I don’t know what he thought of, but Zhang San, who was still sorting out his official uniform, suddenly asked.

"I want to exchange two copies of the Disha Guiding Qi cultivation privileges. What procedures do I need to go through?"

Knowing Zhang San's family background, Dou Su naturally understood why he made this decision. For people who have achieved success in spiritual practice, the pursuit of short-term efficiency is naturally inferior to the long-term care of destiny.

"Given your achievements, it should be possible, but I thought you would prioritize exchanging the Nine Breaths of Submission."

"If the situation allows, I would naturally like to do it, but unfortunately I don't have enough merits..."

This was originally a statement of emotion, but when Zhang San saw Dou Su's strange expression, he reacted instantly.

The world's interpersonal relationships are made up of one circle after another. The intersection of different circles will produce personal connections; similarly, only when you successfully enter certain circles can you know some of the unspoken rules therein.

And today's Jingyesi, after all, is just a circle.

Sure enough, no matter how complex the world is, human desires remain the same. After a long silence, Zhang San finally spoke.

"Don't tell me that the merits of Jingye Division can be exchanged. If that's the case, then what's the difference between that and selling official positions and titles? If this continues..."

Perhaps ordinary people cannot get in touch with the circle of extraordinary people, and even if they do, they cannot pay enough price. But for those wealthy families, the whole world is open to them.

In other words, as long as they want, these forces have the resources to support a rising star.

If this happened in business, it would be fine, but if the people in power in the officialdom, the military, and even the Jingye Division were all these rising stars, then the Great Jin would probably be on the verge of destruction.

However, considering Emperor Qi Ling's attitude of constantly cleaning up local forces, how could he allow such a thing to happen? Or is this simply the limitation of the times?

Seeing Zhang San's unrestrained attitude, Dou Su quickly spoke up to interrupt his wild thoughts.

"I just mentioned it casually, don't think too much about it. His Majesty Taizu has said before that merit is merit and honor is honor.

In the Jingye Division, and even in all official systems of the Great Jin Dynasty, the two are clearly distinguished. When it comes to merit and honor, all official promotions are based mainly on honor.

In this era of spiritual revival, under the compulsory education system of Da Jin, almost most of the talents are born in poor families. No one or any force can deprive others of the right to pursue transcendence, unless that person has clearly violated the law, not even Da Jin can do so.

But you and I both know that, except for those with extraordinary talents, ordinary people naturally cannot achieve success without the accumulation of resources.

However, even with the national strength of Dajin, it could not afford tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of cultivators.

Under the premise that the resources for cultivation are limited, and some people still need money to support their families, the top leaders can only turn a blind eye to the merit trading and item smuggling.

If they didn't control this financial lifeline, with all the unscrupulous things the Southern Pacification Office did, their office would have been demolished long ago. How could they still be here today?"

After all, he is the Emperor Taizu who unified the troubled times. Gao Yang is really good at playing double standards.

What do you mean by turning a blind eye? It makes you seem like you condoned smuggling. If you really condoned it, why don't you send the Southern Pacification Division to watch it? Wouldn't it be more in line with the original intention of letting the market redraw the rules? After hearing what Dou Su said, Zhang San finally understood that Gao Yang was not condoning smuggling at all. He was just using someone else's chicken to lay eggs.

For people from poor families, they have almost nothing except hard work.

In other words, the poor are the ones who produce the most merits and honors, and those who can afford to buy merits are only a handful, except for the wealthy and powerful families.

At first glance, this seemed to elevate the status of the aristocratic families, as if it was a concession made by the imperial power to them. However, looking at it from another perspective, the higher it was raised, the further away they were from the market.

Gao Yang was simply using his power to give worthless achievements a value far beyond their own.

Then, use this merit that has no credibility at all to drain the wealth of local tyrants, and even without fighting, you can easily complete the task of reducing the power of the vassal states.

It really is - shrimp and pig heart! (The people/market do not recognize this, they don't even know that this thing exists. Whether merit is useful or not, the final right of interpretation lies in the hands of the Southern Pacification Division, and the Southern Division is in the hands of the Gao family) "I see!"

Due to the limitations of the times, Dou Su, who was born in a poor family, might not be able to see so far, but this does not prevent him from judging Zhang San's condition.

"If I borrow enough merit from you, what will I have to pay?"

After seeing Zhang San finally understood, Dou Su spoke slowly.

"According to the rules of the Southern Pacification Division, generally speaking, nine out of thirteen are paid. In addition to the original nine merits, an additional three must be paid to the creditors. The remaining one is the Southern Division's handling fee, and it is also a symbol of 'credibility'.

But this is for outsiders. In Jingye Division, nine out of twelve return, and everyone is a brother. Naturally, the South Division does not have to pay its share, but the three shares of the creditors cannot be less."

Listening to the other party talking about rules and credibility, Zhang San tried hard to suppress the urge to laugh even though he wanted to.

After all, it's a business, don't be shy.

"Then follow the rules of the Southern Division. Counting the two copies of Disha Guiding Qi Technique and Nine Breaths of Subduing Qi, I am still short of 6,300 merits. You tell me the number, and I will pay it with gold after I return to Taiping County."

As the saying goes, money is a man's courage. With Gu Xuanyan (a rich woman) in charge, Zhang San was not panicked at all. He even felt like laughing.

"Living in the capital is not easy. If it were me, I would naturally follow the rules of the Southern Division. One merit is equivalent to one tael of gold. This is the market price. I know you are rich, so you naturally don't care about this little money.

It's a pity that I don't have so many merits. The person who lends you the money this time is Mr. Yan. His only requirement is to exchange merits for merits, and the time limit is three years. The old man has said in advance that he will not accept any precious metals or magic tools transactions.

I have brought you this message, and you can think about it carefully before I leave tonight."

"Where is the contract?"

It was as if he was looking at his outstanding children and nephews. When Zhang San said this, even the mask could not hide the joy in Dou Su's eyes.

Signing a contract is not a complicated process, especially when the other party is well prepared, the whole process is incredibly smooth.

"The bodies of the atavistic demons have been packed, and it's time for me to leave. When you return to Taiping County, someone will naturally deliver the things you want.

There is one more thing, which can be regarded as a reminder from a senior. Before you leave, I will remind you one last thing: someone is watching you.

Boy, you have to live well, you know I don’t have many friends! "