Mu Qiuyao shook her head: "My current strength is only at the seventh level of the Supreme Realm. There are many experts in the Northern Region. Without your help, I have no confidence to turn the tide. I'm begging you, I owe you a favor."
Shen Zhao pondered for a moment: "Helping you is not out of the question, after all, we have some relationship. But let me make it clear first, I will not take action unless absolutely necessary."
Mu Qiuyao nodded.
"What are you going to do next?"
"I need to understand the current situation in the Immortal Dynasty before making any further moves. Let's leave here and find a place untouched by the war to discuss this in detail."
"Okay, fine."
...
Inside Yanzhou City, a desolate and lonely scene unfolded, with displaced people begging along the way.
Looking at the scene before her, Mu Qiuyao was in turmoil.
These are all subjects of the Celestial Dynasty, the foundation of my rule.
Now they are caught up in this unwarranted turmoil and are suffering the devastation brought by the war.
With a long sigh, he followed Shen Zhao into a restaurant.
There were very few guests in the restaurant, except for an old blind man playing the pipa, and a waiter leaning listlessly against the front desk.
Upon seeing guests enter, the waiter quickly perked up and greeted them, "Gentlemen, what would you like to order?"
Shen Zhao picked up a pair of chopsticks from the bamboo tube and said, "Just bring a few dishes and drinks."
"Alright!"
The waiter quickly went to the kitchen to get busy, and soon returned with a plate of simple food and a pot of coarse wine, placing them on the table.
Without saying a word, Shen Zhao started eating immediately.
Mu Qiuyao had no appetite at all. At her level of cultivation, she consumed almost no grains. Moreover, she ate only spirit beasts and spirit wine in the palace, so she looked down on these coarse foods.
Aren't you going to eat?
Do you think I'd still have the appetite to eat?
"People need food to survive; you'll get hungry if you skip a meal. Since things have already happened, we should find a way to solve them instead of brooding over them."
Upon hearing this, the blind man who was playing the pipa immediately nodded and said, "Young brother, you are right. Since the matter has already happened, there is no use in worrying about it. We might as well think of a way to solve it."
Shen Zhao: "This old man is quite carefree. Why don't you come over and have a drink with me?"
"In that case, it would be impolite of me to refuse."
The blind man put away his pipa, leaned on a wooden stick, and stumbled over to Shen Zhao's table.
After he sat down, Shen Zhao poured him a glass of wine and asked, "Old man, are you a local?"
"I have traveled extensively throughout the Northern Regions, visiting no fewer than forty or fifty states in the past fifty years. I wonder what you wish to inquire of me, young man?"
"Old man, we have just passed through the Northern Region from the outer realms, but why has the Northern Region become like this?"
Sigh~
The blind man sighed, then raised his wine cup and drank it down.
"Young brother, you may not know this, but the changes in the Northern Region today are all the fault of the former Empress. Otherwise, this great change would not have happened."
Mu Qiuyao couldn't help but ask, "What exactly did the Empress do wrong?"
The blind man said, "Although the Empress possesses extraordinary cultivation, she is cruel and ruthless. While the court and the public appear respectful on the surface, they are actually afraid of her power and do not truly submit to her."
At the beginning of the immortal dynasty she established, things were quite commendable. For example, she reduced taxes for the people, built water conservancy projects, and appointed virtuous and capable officials. Every action she took showed that she cherished the nation's strength, cared for the people, and brought benefits to the land.
For those few centuries, the various states of the Northern Regions truly believed they had welcomed a wise ruler, one in a million.
But as time went on, everything changed. The court was no longer filled with talented civil officials and scholars; instead, it was filled with cultivators who only knew how to cultivate.
The requirements for entering officialdom have evolved from assessing political performance to evaluating one's cultivation progress, sigh..."
Mu Qiuyao retorted, "By bringing all the cultivators in the world into the Immortal Dynasty and expanding its internal strength, what wrong has the Empress done?"
Unexpectedly, Shen Zhao scoffed at this, saying, "While this move may expand the strength of the Immortal Dynasty, it will inevitably fill the court with intrigue and treachery."
Ninety-nine percent of cultivators have selfish motives; their ultimate goal is nothing more than to achieve immortality and improve their cultivation level. How could they possibly be wholeheartedly serving the imperial court?
Moreover, cultivators generally have long lifespans. If they encounter a wise minister, they can bring blessings to the people; but if they encounter a treacherous minister, it will surely be a misfortune for the country.
In her previous life, Yu Xiyan had also considered transforming the Yintian Dynasty into the Yintian Immortal Dynasty, attracting all cultivators from the world to serve in the court. However, Shen Zhao sternly stopped her, not wanting the dog-eat-dog rules of the cultivation world to destroy the bright and clear atmosphere that the dynasty had finally achieved.
As a result, Yu Xiyan found herself increasingly displeasing.
The blind man wholeheartedly agreed: "What you say, young brother, coincides with my own. Cultivators dominate the court but know nothing about worldly affairs. Applying the rules of the cultivation world to ordinary people will only bring endless suffering to them."
Upon hearing this, Mu Qiuyao's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.
She was truly unwilling to accept that the immortal dynasty she had founded was so disreputable in the eyes of the common people.
But the blind man continued, "Since the Immortal Dynasty reformed its system, exorbitant taxes and levies have been rampant in the Northern Regions, leading to countless people selling their children."
Even cultivation sects have begun to fight fiercely for a place in the Northern Region.
Once a minor sect declines or is destroyed, it cuts off the last escape route for those mediocre commoners who want to enter officialdom through their cultivation status.
Tell me, does such a celestial dynasty still deserve the people's love and respect? Furthermore, the Empress is cruel and capricious, favoring her relatives and friends; the court is already in a state of utter chaos.
Otherwise, how could such a huge uproar have been stirred up based solely on the one-sided account of the Heavenly Sacred Land?
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