"Next, it's just a matter of waiting patiently for them to continue their cultivation for a while and see if they can complete it." Pei Xuanjing planned in his heart.
He had been tracking his experiment for a while now, and those pseudo Grandmasters who had refined the Martial Arts True Intent seeds, whether they were refining his own sword intent or the martial arts true intent seeds distilled by other first-grade martial artists, were now almost out of danger and could slowly control their blood qi circulation.
The next step they needed to try was to start gathering the blood qi around their body and complete the first step of the Upper Three Realms martial artist cultivation, condensing the Blood Qi Wolf Smoke.
Only by completing this step, they could represent themselves breaking the original constraints, no longer being inferior to others, and standing in an equal position with those grandmasters who possessed martial arts true intent.
Without much danger in this step, even failures wouldn't cause significant harm, so Pei Xuanjing only allocated a strand of Yin Spirit power to watch over those martial artists who were carrying his sword intent, and then returned to his closed cultivation to continue refining Taoyun, waiting for the right time to continue observing the next stage of the experiment.
Now, two years had unwittingly passed since the promotion of the Great Ming Divine Dynasty. During this period, everything was proceeding in an orderly manner. Pei Xuanjing's Taoyun had already reached 5 million points, enough for him to conduct a life simulation.
However, because he had many matters at hand, Pei Xuanjing did not immediately begin the life simulation, deciding to wait, after all, he wasn't sure how long this life simulation cultivating would take.
Since he couldn't perform life simulation for the time being, Pei Xuanjing, besides refining Taoyun, turned his attention to another matter: crafting divine artifacts.
He originally wanted to craft a divine artifact to control the Divine Position in his hands, in order to avoid being eroded by the Heaven and Earth Karma. At first, he was worried that he wouldn't have suitable materials for crafting divine artifacts.
However, after he was listed as a co-offering in the temple by the Emperor, Pei Xuanjing had an idea to use the Power of Incense Faith as a material to craft a divine artifact of his own.
It had to be acknowledged that sometimes the advantages of the feudal empire were apparent. Especially after the Great Ming Divine Dynasty ascended, the execution became very strong. With the imperial edicts, countless worship temples were erected in the territory of Great Ming in just two years.
And these short two years accumulated a rich Power of Incense Fire for Pei Xuanjing.
"Although I have the idea of crafting divine artifacts, I seem to have no clue how to craft this divine artifact," Pei Xuanjing sighed.
He wasn't a jack of all trades. He had never even attempted to forge a divine weapon. He wanted to craft a divine artifact, but he had no idea where to start.
Of course, although Pei Xuanjing had the intention to forge a divine artifact, he had a conclusion in his heart about what this divine artifact should look like.
The bell, the cauldron, the tower, the seal, the mirror, and the furnace are all the most suitable prototypes for divine artifacts. They are not only powerful but also have various effects.
In the legend, these kinds of divine artifacts have a great reputation. They can open the heaven and the earth, set the four elements – Earth Water Wind Fire, and suppress all realms.
But Pei Xuanjing was still a bit unsatisfied. He felt that something was lacking. He thought that these things could not contain all of his Dao. Originally, according to his idea, crafting a Dao map was the most suitable thing.
Use his Shenxiao Heaven's Intention as the foundation, include the Four Seasons and Five Orders, and create Shenxiao Sky Intent Map with the creation and demise of thunderbolts.
But Pei Xuanjing wanted to use this Dao map as his foundational treasure, and he didn't want to use this method to create a divine artifact to master the divine position.
So, for the time being, Pei Xuanjing was still a bit indecisive and had not made a good decision.
…
Pei Xuanjing walked out of the main hall, passed through the pavilions of the Taoist Temple, glanced at those martial artists who were refining their blood qi and martial arts true intent non-stop day and night at the practice martial arts field, and nodded in satisfaction.
After all, with himself personally supervising, such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was right in front of them. If there were any slackers who were unwilling to work hard, Pei Xuanjing would not reprimand them, but would definitely abandon them.
Seeing that these people were all taking the opportunity to grow very seriously, Pei Xuanjing smiled, turned around and went back to the main hall again, but his figure gradually faded into the darkness.
The Tiangong Workshop, this place was a forging divine weapon location of the royal family. There were several sole grandmasters supported by the royal family. The divine weapon that Pei Xuanjing had requested them to forge was also created here.
"Greetings to National Teacher." Upon seeing Pei Xuanjing, a royal first-grade martial artist quickly paid his respects.
They were the royal guards, specifically guarding this place to prevent thieves from infiltrating. After all, there were numerous divine weapons here. If a disaster really occurs, even the royal family of the Great Ming would feel the financial pinch.
"How is the divine sword of poor Dao progressing?" Pei Xuanjing asked.
"The National Teacher's divine sword is being forged by the workshop master in conjunction with several grandmasters. According to the information passed out, I'm afraid it will take some time to complete," the guard replied.
Forging a divine weapon has never been a simple matter. Besides the grandmaster spending years forging a Ten Thousand-Forged divine weapon, it also requires martial artists to personally temper it to reach the peak state.
At Pei Xuanjing's level of Realm, ordinary Ten Thousand-Forged divine weapons would be of no help to him, but would become a burden instead. Therefore, he brought that Purple Lightning Divine Gold and the broken silver spear as materials, hoping to forge a top-level Ten Thousand-Forged divine weapon, or even surpass Ten Thousand-Forged. Thus, under such circumstances, it would take even longer.
If it weren't for the valuable and rare materials that Pei Xuanjing provided, and that forging such a divine weapon would bring great gains to many grandmasters in the Tiangong Workshop, even if he were now the number one person in the world, he would not be able to afford these grandmasters to jointly create a divine weapon for him.
Hearing that it was still early, Pei Xuanjing nodded his head and turned down the guard's invitation to go in and watch. He asked, "I wonder if this Tiangong Workshop has some information on learning how to forge weapons?"
He came here today, not just to ask if his divine weapon had been forged, but also wanted to get some information about forging weapons for study.
Since he didn't know anything about weapon forging, he also had no idea how to craft a divine artifact. He might as well get some materials from here for study, to see if he could gain any insights.
In response to Pei Xuanjing's request, although the guard was curious, he didn't dare to ask more. He hurriedly found an entry-level manual for apprentices from the workshop.
Even the Tiangong Workshop could only have these basics, which were for the apprentices to get started.
As for the advanced forging methods, these were the core secrets of each blacksmith, and they would never be revealed easily. These grandmasters would only pass this knowledge on to their disciples before death, and wouldn't pass it to a second person. Therefore, even if Pei Xuanjing stepped forward, it would be very difficult to get their secrets.
However, for Pei Xuanjing, this was enough. He only needed to understand some refining and forging methods as a reference, and he didn't need too sophisticated techniques.
After doing all this, Pei Xuanjing went to the Imperial City again, but he was not looking for the Emperor, but for that mysterious Mr. Wu.
There was no need to trouble two leaders. Pei Xuanjing, given that he was deeply entwined in cooperation, did not mind a little more. So he took the initiative to ask the other party for some methods of refining in the Sky Wasteland, also asking whether there were methods to forge divine treasures and artefacts.
Once Pei Xuanjing stated his purpose, Mr. Wu instantly understood what Pei Xuanjing intended to do.
"Honestly speaking, I am curious about the True One, to have thought up such a way to use the Power of Incense Fire," he said.
Such a strong person like him was very clear about the drawbacks of the Power of Incense Fire. Even with the Incense Fire God Refining Skill, he didn't cultivate it because he was wary of its erosion.
However, Pei Xuanjing's method also served as considerable enlightenment to him, instantly making him think of many ways to reduce the erosion of Divine Position.
They discussed passionately for a long while, and Pei Xuanjing obtained what he wanted and returned to the Taoist Temple.
In the following days, everything proceeded as usual, and besides the martial artists gathering around the Imperial City Tiandu, nothing major happened.
Even the forces controlled by those who had returned from the Sky Wasteland, which Bai Xiaosheng had discovered, were very peaceful; nothing unusual occurred.
A year later, after a total of three years, the Taoist Academy outside the capital city of Tiandu was finally completed. Constructed along the mountains, it was large and equipped with all kinds of facilities. It even resembled a small city itself.
On the day of the Taoist Academy's completion, Pei Xuanjing came out from seclusion and joined the Emperor who emerged from the Imperial City, and several senior officials and nobles of the Great Ming Divine Dynasty. Together, they participated in the ceremony of the Taoist Academy's completion.
On the same day, Pei Xuanjing personally announced the commencement of the selection of the Taoist Academy students. According to the original plan, Deng Zhong would be the chief examiner, selecting suitable students to enter the Taoist Academy.
During the three-month selection process, Pei Xuanjing would occasionally appear, hiding his identity to mingle among the examiners, observing whether there were any particularly outstanding talents.
The rest of the time, he was looking back on the third-grade Pseudo Grandmasters cultivating the Seed Intent Method.
These people, after more than a year of grinding, saw an initial approximate halving in the number who held Pei Xuanjing's sword intent, quickly dropping to less than twenty people.
And among these nearly twenty, seven or eight had refined the sword intent by around sixty percent in this year alone. Using this opportunity, they had not only condensed Blood Qi Wolf Smoke, but further stepped into the Second-Class Martial Arts realm, condensing a Blood Qi Smelting Furnace.
Although this was partly due to Pei Xuanjing's personal care, and the resources of the Sect being used, their determination and patience were indispensable.
The rest, who accounted for the majority, likewise condensed Blood Qi Wolf Smoke and remedied their own deficiencies, becoming genuine third-grade Grandmaster strong men.
Such results were enough to prove the success of Pei Xuanjing's 'Seed Intent Method'.
The first method he deduced also made considerable progress. He left Martial Art intent imprints along with several martial artists from the Shenxiao Sect in the Taoist Temple. Fourth-grade martial artists studied and learned from these day and night, with several of them succeeding in comprehending Martial Art intent and stepping into the Grandmaster realm. This success rate was more than triple the previous one.
It can be said that as soon as this news was disseminated, all the martial artists in the world cheered in shock, especially those Pseudo Grandmasters of the Third-Class and Fourth-Class martial artists. Pei Xuanjing's move undoubtedly paved a new path for them, offering them an opportunity to start over.
With such a virtuous and wise man like him presiding over the Taoist Academy, the competition for seats in the academy became even more intense.
The selection of Taoist Academy students, after three months, finally came to an end.
On the first day after the new students entered the Taoist Academy, Pei Xuanjing announced his decision. The academy would implement a rule: a contribution points system.
Within the Taoist Academy, contribution points were omnipotent. Any martial arts in the Scripture Pavilion, elixirs, divine weapons, or the need for instruction from a teacher could be acquired with enough contribution points.
Furthermore, if enough contribution points were spent, aside from getting normal classes, they could even request instruction from the Taoist Academy's National Teacher, Pei Xuanjing.
When Pei Xuanjing announced these rules, the academy's students were extremely excited, while unsuccessful martial artists were filled with regret.
However, all was now set in stone, so they could only bide their time, waiting for the next enrollment of the academy in three years.
Many homeless martial artists simply settled down near the academy and cultivated diligently. After all, the academy announced that every month, the academy would have an instructor give a public discourse once, which would be open for all to attend, regardless of status.
Initially, these instructors were somewhat unwilling to give public discourses, but when Pei Xuanjing mentioned that they could earn contribution points from every public discourse, the instructors became eager to take up the task. They even argued over it.
According to the current rules, contribution points were truly valuable within the academy. They could virtually be exchanged for anything as long as the academy had it and the corresponding points were paid.
Of course, this was just the first step in Pei Xuanjing's plan. What he needed now was to circulate the contribution points and have the martial artists accept them, so that he could gradually extend it to the entire world.
To the Great Ming Divine Dynasty or others, these contribution points might become a tool, a means to control the world. But to Pei Xuanjing, this was secondary.
What Pei Xuanjing needed was not control over the world, but to seize the opportunity to execute his own plan, involving everyone and encouraging them to strive, providing more possibilities for his own reflection through their wisdom.
With the establishment of the Taoist Academy, Pei Xuanjing firstly lectured for all the students of the academy and then held a public discourse, inviting all to attend.
A year later, once everything was on track, Pei Xuanjing began his next life simulation.
He was looking forward to this life simulation because, with his current realm, if he could enhance his strength through life simulation, he would have a larger say in the coming Great World.
[Taoyun: 6759435 points.]
[Use the Life Simulator? One use requires 5000000 points of Taoyun.]
"Yes!"
[Simulation Life starts: …]
Life Simulation Begins:
One year old: You were born into the royal family, but because your mother was merely a regular concubine, your birth did not receive much attention. After giving birth to you, your mother passed away, and you were raised in the palace under the care of other concubines.
Four years old: You safely grew up to the age of four and started accompanying the crown prince during his studies, learning from some tutors from the Imperial Academy.
Six years old: Compared to the much-observed crown prince and some distinguished princes, you were just an ordinary prince, not attracting much attention, appearing rather low-key.
Eight years old: Although always keeping a low profile, when you first started cultivation at the age of eight, you exhibited great understanding, suddenly attracting much attention, even making the aloof emperor notice you.
Unexpectedly, the crown prince, and many other princes, who had ignored you before, started showing concern for you, trying to build closer relationships with you. You politely refused them, fully devoted to cultivation and study.
Sixteen years old: According to tradition, at sixteen, princes should join the military for training and service. You joined an elite army and became an ordinary soldier.
Twenty-four years old: After eight years of military training and reaching the fourth order of cultivation, you have become a promising military figure, commanding an army and safeguarding the border. You prevent invasions and are recognized as a prestigious commander.
At this point, the emperor is old, the crown prince and his siblings are all grown up, and factions vying for power have emerged. They all desire the supreme throne. You, having no interest in that position, prefer to stay at the border rather than return to the capital.
You reckon that your job is to guard the border for the empire, you ignore the attempts from the royal princes at the capital to woo you, and all your free time is devoted to either your practice, warfare, or leisure activities.
Thirty years old: You continue to be honored for your outstanding contributions. You are given the rank of prince, managing hundreds of thousands of troops at the border. Though you are not involved in the fight for the throne, your formidable power is undeniable and feared amongst many other princes.
Despite your explicit refusal to get involved and your clear stance, you have aroused the suspicion of some princes because you have not explicitly taken sides.
However, the emperor is delighted by this. He continues to promote you, hoping you act as a balance between the competing princes, securing his dominance over the court.
Unaware of these intricacies, you remain at the border, planning for more military operations to expand the empire.
Thirty-four years old: The decades-long battle for the throne finally comes to an end. The old emperor passes away. The crown prince, showing remarkable prowess, suppresses all the princes fighting for the throne, and ascends to the throne.
Once taking the throne, he changes his seemingly benevolent and kind demeanor completely. Within a few years, he quickly deals with the princes who competed with him for the throne, and even takes down their supporters. This causes anxiety among the officials in the court.
Because you, stationed at the border with a large army under your command, could potentially pose a threat of rebellion, the emperor not only refrains from making moves against you but continues to reward and promote you instead.
Thirty-six years old: The emperor finishes dealing with his opponents and their supporters, those princes who were competing with him for the throne are either imprisoned, executed, or exiled. He has complete control over the court and enjoys supreme power. Finally, he turns his attention to you. Despite your cooperative attitude, the large army under your command greatly disturbs his peace.
Eventually, he finds an excuse to summon you from the border back to the capital. Confident that you have done no wrong, despite the persuasion of your generals and advisors, believing that the emperor wouldn't harm a crucial pillar and commander of the empire like you, you decide to return to the capital.
After all, at this time, you have reached the fifth order of cultivation. After nearly two decades of campaigning on the borders, suppressing any invasions, you are undeniably a stalwart pillar, a sea-propping purple-gold beam of the empire. If the emperor makes a move against you, it will inevitably cause chaos in the court, leading to the decline of the empire.
Thirty-seven years old: Despite the risk of power struggles within the empire and the very real possibility of a collapse, the emperor forcibly imprisons you on fabricated charges and then searches your mansion in the capital, finding a dragon robe and imperial seal, proving your conspiracy to rebel. You, trapped in the capital, unable to defend yourself and unwilling to cause the empire's downfall, choose to surrender and are imprisoned in the Sky Prison.
Thirty-eight years old: After your imprisonment, your generals and advisors, without a leader, are divided and manipulated by the already-prepared emperor. In the end, they are all killed or dismissed.
Thirty-nine years old: After dealing with all your subordinates, the emperor finally feels secure enough to take action against you. First, he strips you of your cultivation powers, then executes you on charges of rebellion.
Pity, a potential sixth-level-strong royal family's key pillar of the empire falls, causing many to sigh in regret.
[Life ends]
Having experienced countless life simulations, Pei Xuanjing is mentally prepared and can accept any potential outcomes in this simulation.
However, when he saw the result of this life simulation, he couldn't help but frown slightly. Thinking about the events he had gone through in this life simulation, even if it was just one of the many possible outcomes in his projection, he couldn't help but feel angry.
"Fool!"
Pei Xuanjing summed up his actions and choices in this life simulation in two words: utterly foolish.
It was indeed foolish, unimaginably so.
Since ancient times, there has been no affection among the royal family. Born into the palace, one should either choose to live an ordinary life and not meddle in anything, let alone show any talent.
The early stage of this life simulation was not bad, but the moment he demonstrated his excellent cultivation talents, it meant he was caught in the vortex. At that moment, he should have either given up cultivation or actively participated in the struggle.
Whether becoming independent or joining any other prince, it would have been a smart choice.
His most foolish action was not joining any side, especially considering how his power grew over time. When he had the ability to be a player in this game, he gave up his player status and willingly became the emperor's pawn to balance others.