Chapter 476
476 The great Qin State cult
Chang ‘an, great Qin.
This city could almost be regarded as the largest city in the entire cultivation world.
The outermost layer was where ordinary people lived. It was divided into hundreds of Urban area, with tens of millions of people living there.
The inner layer was divided into more than 20 Urban area, almost all of which were occupied by cultivators.
The core of the city was called the ‘city above the clouds’. From afar, it really looked like a real immortal Palace.
The spirit vein in Chang ‘an was the best in the entire cultivation world in terms of concentration and scale.
What was worth mentioning was that the great Qin’s Imperial Palace was not located in the city above the clouds, but at the foot of the city. Although this position was also in the core of the inner city, in terms of status, it was obviously incomparable to the city above the clouds.
They were indeed not on the same level.
In the great Qin Empire, the Emperor was naturally the Supreme ruler of the country. However, this was only in the secular world. In the state of Qin, there was another special feature that was rarely seen in other countries.
The orthodoxy.
The orthodoxy of great Qin was the spiritual pillar of great Qin society. In theory, from commoners who had no cultivation experience to emperors at the peak of the Dharma stage, they were all believers of the orthodoxy.
One could only imagine how great the authority of this so-called national religion was.
Of course, as the leader of the regime, great Qin’s Emperor had some authority. The Empire’s administrative power and Army were still firmly held in the hands of the Emperor.
In the early days, the great Qin’s orthodoxy’s influence on the country wasn’t this strong. In fact, at the very beginning, they were not even called a ‘orthodoxy’. To the outside world, they were just a religion that could cultivate cultivators.
As time passed, they grew larger and larger, and their believers grew more and more. They penetrated deep into the lives of the people of Qin. No matter if it was cultivators or the people, they all received a very serious influence and eventually became the so-called national religion.
However, even when they had just become the orthodoxy, their influence had been limited to the point where they could become the tools used by the Qin Emperor and the government to rule the country.
This situation continued for a very long time. However, after the current Emperor of great Qin, Qin Shang, ascended the throne, some changes began to happen.
On the eve of Qin Shang’s ascension to the throne, he was still a nascent soul cultivator. In the powerful great Qin Empire, even the most pure-blooded Prince would not be able to fight for the throne if he only had this kind of power.
Ever since the great Qin Empire was established, it had never had an Emperor below the Dharma plane.
At that time, Qin Shang had an elder sister and a younger brother who were both Dharma plane experts. Logically speaking, the throne had nothing to do with him.
Even if he had received the support of the orthodoxy, which already had a great influence in the state of Qin, according to the traditions of the state of Qin, it was still unlikely that he could take over the position of Emperor.
However, something magical happened next. In just two years, Qin Shang had broken through to the Dharma stage from the nascent Soul Stage, which was not qualified to compete for the Imperial power.
But even so, he, who had become a Dharma adept, could not compare to his sister and brother.
The main reason was that his elder sister and younger brother were both old Dharma adepts and had entered the middle Dharma stage. The fight for the Imperial power was imminent. Even if Qin Shang had become a Dharma plane cultivator, how could he compete with others when he had just broken through to the new Dharma plane?
However, the truth was just that shocking.
Qin Shang had won. Furthermore, he had used an absolute advantage to suppress his sister’s rebellion. He had crushed and killed his opponent on the spot. His younger brother had wisely chosen to surrender, and in the future, he had quickly become a member of the orthodoxy.
After becoming a disciple, Qin Shang’s younger brother had also become a very loyal official of the entire Empire. He would listen to his orders at any time. His personality was completely different from when he was fighting for the throne with Qin Shang.
How he had broken through to the Dharma level so quickly, and how he had been able to easily eliminate his competitors for the throne when he had just broken through to the Dharma level, this was most likely related to the orthodoxy.
Anyone with a slightly more normal mind and experience would be able to easily recognize this.
It was also because of this that the orthodoxy had truly begun to walk to the front stage.
Before this, although many of the people of the Qin Kingdom had been true believers of the orthodoxy, there were not many true fanatical believers who were willing to completely throw their heads and spill their blood for the orthodoxy. The orthodoxy was more like a supplement on the spiritual level in the political life of the people of Qin. It could not even be considered as a pillar.
However, after the orthodoxy had successfully supported Qin Shang to the position of Emperor, everything had changed greatly.
And after that, since the orthodoxy was able to help Qin Shang ascend the throne, they naturally had their own demands.
After Qin Shang ascended to power, the atmosphere of the entire great Qin Empire began to change rapidly.
The most concentrated manifestation of these changes was that the orthodoxy’s authority was gradually strengthening.
Although the Imperial court and the Emperor were in charge of the entire Empire’s administration, from the local administration to the cultivation of cultivators to the cultivation of the Empire’s Army, the orthodoxy also showed no interest in getting involved in this power.
However, what they really controlled was people’s minds.
A large number of people had truly become believers of the orthodoxy, the very determined kind.
Although people usually did things and developed based on the orders of the Imperial court and the various local forces, a concept of religion had gradually emerged in the minds of most of the Qin people-the position of the orthodoxy was Supreme.
And the faith of the orthodoxy was also packaged very well. They didn’t have the concept of a single God.
If it was just a ‘God’, it would not be considered very popular in the world of cultivation. Cultivators all had powerful extraordinary powers. As long as they could gradually move up, although it was difficult, they would be able to obtain the ability to move mountains and fill seas. In a world like this, it was unrealistic to have people worship ‘gods’ too much.
For most of the cultivators with normal minds, even if there was such a thing as a God, the cultivators would often think of it as a more powerful cultivator, and it was difficult to think of it as an omniscient and omnipotent God.
The interesting part about the orthodoxy’s packaging was that they packaged the entire doctrine into a kind of ‘Dao’.
This kind of ‘Dao’ was a concept and a value. The core concept was ‘order’.
The National religion did not care about good or evil, and they did not mind good or evil people. They were more concerned about ‘order’ itself.
Under the influence of the orthodoxy, the laws of the great Qin State had gradually become more detailed and strict. Furthermore, the execution was completely devoid of any human feelings and strictly followed the law.
And from cultivators to the general public, their acknowledgment of order was also growing deeper and deeper as the faith of the orthodoxy continued to expand.
Of course, it was human nature. No matter if they were ordinary people or cultivators, it was impossible for them to completely follow the order. They would always favor the free or the wicked. Some of them naturally did not like such uncomfortable restraints, and some were even dissatisfied with some of the evil laws set by the Qin country.
However, this kind of person, no matter what identity he had, was cruelly suppressed by the orthodoxy.
In this regard, the orthodoxy had always dealt with them in a set of methods-first, they would be expelled from the religion, then the government would declare them guilty of a crime, and then they would be dealt with in the strictest way.
Under such circumstances, a large number of people died.
Lu Qing had a very strange feeling after he obtained a lot of information about the state of Qin.
There was nothing wrong with placing importance on order. A high degree of order meant that the organization of the whole society was high, and the ability to mobilize was high. The whole society could concentrate its power to do big things.
However, there was a limit to everything.
Strictly following the law was not a problem in itself. However, was the law itself a good thing? From Lu Qing’s understanding, since the law had already been formulated, it had to be enforced. However, when making laws, perhaps due to the lack of consideration of the law makers, their interests, or simply because of the changes in time and society, some laws that were originally good became less suitable.
In this case, in addition to the implementation of the law, there should also be corresponding policies, so that people could discover and adjust the inappropriate order.
However, the state of Qin did not have such a mechanism.
To Lu Qing, some of the laws were simply evil. However, these laws were still executed meticulously. Not to mention breaking the law, even if they didn’t break the law, just expressing dissatisfaction with the law would cause them to be persecuted.
Moreover, when the law was implemented, it was done in full accordance with the provisions and regulations without considering the matter itself. This was, of course, a manifestation of evil.
The combination of these two factors caused the atmosphere of the great Qin Kingdom to become extremely oppressive and terrifying.
However, it had to be said that the power of order was still very terrifying.
Under a strong order, the power of the Qin country could be gathered very well. The mobilization ability of society was very strong, and the organization of the Army was very high, so it was difficult for spies to operate in the environment of Qin State. There were all kinds of means to monitor the people and cultivators, but these excessive powers would breed corruption and discord.
In short, this was a country that made Lu Qing feel a little uncomfortable.
Back to the Qin country itself.
Within the great Qin Palace, the current Emperor of great Qin, Qin Shang, had changed into a ceremonial robe.
This was the grandest attire an Emperor should wear. Not only the Qin country, but almost all the other countries had similar clothes. Most emperors didn’t like it because it was troublesome and uncomfortable to wear. Unless it was a very formal occasion where they had to wear it, emperors usually didn’t like to wear such a troublesome set of clothes in private.
Qin Shang was the same.
However, today, the great Qin Kingdom didn’t have any Grand Court Assembly, Grand Memorial, and other such activities. It seemed that the Emperor didn’t need to do this.
However, Qin Shang, who had a solemn expression on his face, seemed as if he was about to announce a very important decision.
In the empty great Qin Palace, there was only one person by his side.
It was the Imperial advisor of the great Qin Empire, Fang Ziliang.
“Your Majesty, I’ll ask you one last time. If you take this step, you can’t turn back.”
“I know.” Qin Shang’s expression was serious. however, if we don’t do this, how can we deal with the Yan Kingdom? ”
“Can’t I stop?”
This was Fang Ziliang’s biggest question.
Before he became the Imperial advisor, he was Qin Shang’s personal teacher and also Qin Shang’s most important advisor. Regardless of whether it was before or after Qin Shangcheng became the Emperor, he was Qin Shang’s most trusted person.
It was also because of this identity that Fang Ziliang had been able to see Qin Shang’s every step of change over the long years.
He could understand Qin Shang’s great talent and strategy. However, was the orthodoxy a good thing? Back then, Fang Ziliang knew better than anyone what price Qin Shang had to pay to become the Emperor of great Qin.
He abandoned all emotions such as joy, disgust, and anger. With the help of the orthodoxy, Qin Shang became a Dharma plane cultivator and became the Emperor of great Qin.
But without these, was he still a human?
Fang Ziliang had always had doubts about things like the Taishang’s ruthlessness and his belief that order was above all else.
He didn’t know if this path was truly correct.
However, this had helped Qin Shang become the Emperor, and it had also helped the great Qin become stronger day by day. In the beginning, Fang Ziliang only had some doubts in his heart, but it was not good for him to object. After all, this was an agreement that Qin Shang had made with the National church in order to become the Emperor.
But later on, as the orthodoxy’s influence grew, he, as the Imperial Preceptor of the great Qin, felt that something was wrong. However, when he wanted to do something, it was already too late.
There were many things that could not be salvaged after one had taken that step.
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand that the Qin State wanted to become stronger and continue to expand outwards. However, was there really a need for the great Qin to unify the entire cultivation world? Was there really a need to head east and fight for hegemony with the famous Yan country?
Even if he wanted to fight for hegemony, did he really have to pay such a price?
As the Emperor of great Qin, Qin Shang had grown rapidly over the years and was now a cultivator at the peak of the Dharma stage. He wanted to go one step further and enter the level of the divine sea that only existed in legends and had not been seen by anyone for a long time. However, Qin Shang had already given up all his human emotions in exchange for everything he had now. What about this time? What else did Qin Shang need to pay?
Fang Ziliang did not know, but he did not believe that the orthodoxy would be so kind.
He knew the higher-ups of the orthodoxy. In his opinion, they were all emotionless machines, not like humans at all. They were more like clay sculptures.