Chapter 583: Chapter 531: Outstanding Tactics

Qingyang Zi’s idea was very simple, that was to scatter these various people together so that they could not form a unified group to deceive the upper echelons and hide things from below.

Pei Xuanjing was not aware of Qingyang Zi’s idea, but even if he had known, he wouldn’t have said anything. Instead, he would have agreed with him as it demonstrated that Qingyang Zi was entirely committed to the development of the Taoist Academy.

In the following period, numerous Taoist Academies were being built within the boundaries of the Great Ming Divine Dynasty. Those who were selected and approved by Pei Xuanjing as instructors and local leaders of the future branches of the Taoist Academy also rushed to the locations they had been arranged.

The Taoist Academy, a holy place that countless people had long yearned for, had once again became the focal point of many people’s attention.

It should be known that over the years, the Taoist Academy in Tiandu had cultivated numerous powerful individuals. Therefore, each time the Taoist Academy recruited disciples, it would lead many people to scramble for the few available spots, and even some children from powerful families aspired to enter.

However, there were too many martial artists in the world, and even with the expansion of Tiandu’s Taoist Academy over the years, the number of disciples they annually recruited only amounted to a few thousand. In comparison to the countless martial artists worldwide, this was merely a drop in the ocean.

Therefore, when Pei Xuanjing had initially intended to establish more branches of the Taoist Academy, he received overwhelming support from numerous martial artists who had been eagerly anticipating this day.

During these few years of preparation, while Pei Xuanjing was selecting instructors, another group was choosing locations for the academy branches in various prefectures. The construction of the Taoist Academy was also underway at the same time.

Originally, the amount of money required to build countless branches of the Academy was astronomical, even by Pei Xuanjing’s standards. Therefore, his initial idea was just to start building in some key prefectures and gradually move forward.

However, he underestimated the desire of the countless martial artists in the world for the Taoist Academy. When the initial plan for the construction of the academy branches came out, the martial artists immediately petitioned together, hoping that Pei Xuanjing would establish more branches and promising to donate generously themselves. They just needed Pei Xuanjing to agree, and they would handle the rest.

In addition to the desire of the martial artists, the Great Ming Divine Dynasty was extraordinarily supportive of Pei Xuanjing’s implementation of the Taoist Academy’s construction.

Although they believed that Pei Xuanjing certainly had his own plans and was not merely establishing a pathway for the martial artists like the rumors suggested, this did not imply that they would oppose this matter.

Because for the Great Ming Divine Dynasty at this moment, although it had ascended to the status of a divine dynasty, it was arguably the weakest in history. They needed to rapidly increase their national power and allow the Great Ming Divine Dynasty to flourish.

The prosperity of a divine dynasty, besides having supreme high-end combat power, largely depends on their grassroots base, which is the real pillar of a divine dynasty.

If the foundation of the former Great Ming Empire was the common people, then the true foundation of the current Great Ming Divine Dynasty is this multitude of martial artist cultivators; they are the foundation of the Great Ming Divine Dynasty.

Only when these martial artists and cultivators continuously grow stronger, will the Qi Luck of the Great Ming Divine Dynasty flourish even more.

Thus, with the implementation of what Pei Xuanjing is promoting now, the Great Ming Divine Dynasty has inadvertently become one of the beneficiaries. Even if they knew that Pei Xuanjing had his plans and calculations, they could not give up and were forced to promote this matter instead.

With the six hundred years of accumulation by the Great Ming Divine Dynasty, although the amount of money required to build countless branches of the Taoist Academy was substantial, it was not unaffordable.

Besides, they didn’t need to shoulder the financial burden entirely by themselves.

“What are we doing? Building Taoist Academies, seeking benefits for countless martial artists. For such a matter, if only the imperial court were to provide funding, it might indeed get the job done, but what about the powers from all over? Wouldn’t they want to make a contribution for the martial artists? We can’t do this!”

Those were the words of Yan Weizhong, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites. He believed that what they were doing now was for the benefit of countless martial artists. Although the Great Ming Divine Dynasty, as the emperor of its people, has the responsibility to do this, they cannot forget the other forces in the world, cannot forget their sympathy for the martial artists, cannot deny them the right to contribute, and cannot reject their good intentions.

So, after Yan Weizhong’s words were spoken, the various forces, led by the Taoist School, naturally could not ignore it. They needed to respond.

After all, anyone who wasn’t a fool understood that at this moment, building branches of the Taoist Academy was the will of the people and something that countless martial artists were looking forward to. If anyone was stingy with their money, it would inevitably end badly.

Let alone any top alliances or first-class powers, when facing the wrath of countless angry martial artists, it wouldn’t matter who you are.

Even forces with bad reputations in the martial world like the Demonic Cult and heretic alliances had to admit their errors in the face of such circumstances, not daring to provoke public anger, to avoid their opponents taking advantage of the situation.

Therefore, even if they were dissatisfied, they, like the Great Ming Divine Dynasty, would have to grit their teeth and get through it.

For this reason, Minister Yan Weizhong was even more despised by various forces, so much so that some had even placed high bounties on his life secretly.

Unfortunately, after the Ghost Emperor of Fengdu was killed by Pei Xuanjing and the remaining forces were absorbed by Zhao Baiyang, although there were still assassin organizations rising in the world, no one dared to provoke a senior official of the Great Ming Divine Dynasty for the time being.

After all, besides his high political status, Yan Weizhong had also refined a divine position, and he had stayed in Tiandu without leaving. It would not be easy to act against him. Moreover, if it were so easy to deal with him, those who were furious wouldn’t have to offer bounties, they could simply act personally, right?

As for the bounties placed on him, Yan Weizhong didn’t care at all. The only person he cared about was the Emperor of the Great Ming Divine Dynasty, who was the one he needed to pay the most attention to, everyone else was irrelevant.

Not to mention that after refining a divine position, he already had enough power to protect himself, just being within the Divine Dynasty, as long as he did not lose the Emperor’s favor, no one could threaten him, and those other forces definitely wouldn’t want to provoke the wrath of the mysterious and powerful master of the Divine Dynasty.

“This Minister Yan is indeed a formidable person. Just with a few words, he managed to save the Great Ming Divine Dynasty a significant amount of money.” After hearing about his actions, Pei Xuanjing couldn’t help but admire Yan Weizhong’s extraordinary methods.