Chapter 412 The Supreme Ruler (4)
The title of "common ruler" is not an easy task.
After the banquet, Jiao Jue piled the bamboo slips and jade tablets on his own table onto Ji Rong's seat. He then summoned the mountain gods and river gods under the jurisdiction of the Danxue Mountains and the Canglan Mountains and waterways to hand over matters to the subordinate gods of the Shoudao Palace, calling it a "presentation of power to the common lord."
Then, He ordered Gu Qingqing and Ji Zhuang to close the gate of the Dragon and Phoenix Palace, leaving only Abai and Ahong to guard the Source Regeneration Pool, while He went to sweep the border with Qing Guanzi.
Not to be outdone, Qingpingzi sent a document to Gulin requesting that he send over a copy of all the major and minor affairs of the Yuxu Mountain Range every two months.
Xi Tong also issued a document instructing Shan Hu to send a mountain god every two months to present the affairs of Juzhou.
...
Thus, as soon as Ji Rong began to manage affairs, just by looking at the endless bamboo slips, she felt a sense of approval for Xi Zhu's past actions.
The vastness of the Nine Provinces cannot be satisfied by the title of a single sovereign or by powerful military suppression, which would force all the spiritual beings of the Nine Provinces to submit in faith.
As you can see, in the early ancient times, the supreme rulers took turns ruling, and fighting broke out every few days due to their differing governance philosophies.
Therefore, in the later period of the ancient era, the title of "Common Lord" became a name, which was usually held by the most powerful and recognized deity. The Common Lord enjoyed private territories and tributes from various places, but no longer interfered in the affairs of other powerful deities and cultivators within their territories.
This method of dividing the land for governance was relatively simple, but it also caused the sovereign to lose control over the entire Kyushu region.
To be precise, since Xi Zhu became the supreme ruler, he has done some good things that have benefited the development of Kyushu.
Because the source of life was exhausted, He simply slaughtered so many gods that not even one-tenth survived.
He supported Emperor Rong as a sword to slaughter mid-to-high-level cultivators among all races whose foundations were not strong; He allowed the Golden Mother to set up the Garden of Rules to resolve injustices in the Nine Provinces, so that all the gods would benefit.
They also frequently held banquets to win over top-tier forces like the Jade Void Palace and many other blessed lands and grotto-heavens.
In this way, He not only consolidated His own rule, but also reduced the consumption of spiritual energy by the growing number of cultivators.
If Ji Rong could cast aside the shadow of her past experiences on her cooking, she might just secretly admire Xi Zhu's actions at this moment.
She only needs to display her wealth and power, hold banquets to win over the gods and believers who support her, and divide the land to continue the tradition of self-governance, in order to keep the world from falling into chaos.
If she did this, no powerful figure would object. Not only could she enjoy fame like the Lord of the West, but she could also gain more support.
But whenever Ji Rong reveled in being the supreme ruler of the Nine Provinces, sitting high on the throne and enjoying the worship of all races, the three already blurred faces of Huang Pinjie, Ji Er, and Qing Shi would appear in her mind.
"Snap!" A crisp sound suddenly rang out in the quiet Shoudao Palace, startling the attendants standing by and making them dare not breathe. Ji Rong sighed inwardly, "Alas, power blinds the bird's heart, and laziness takes over the bird's head. He almost forgot his roots."
After slapping herself, Ji Rong looked at her own wings and claws with a mixture of melancholy and pride. She had made up her mind that now that she had taken the throne, she would accelerate the realization of her dream world.
Once the order of this world is established, it will be time for Ji Rong to retire successfully. But how will her subordinates deal with her, the new ruler, when she, who has been poor and hard-working, still manage to get by after gaining power?
Ji Rong thought to herself, "Governing by region is actually the best approach. This is what the previous Xi Lord did, which enabled the unified circulation of written language throughout the Nine Provinces. However, the control was weak, and the rules in other regions were different."
These blessed lands and grottoes are free to rebel against Him without any restraint. The quantity and type of tribute paid by the local people are determined by those in power, resulting in heavy exploitation, which is often attributed to the Lord of the Sun.
While selecting capable individuals from among all races for governance might boost racial confidence to some extent, it would inevitably lead to discrimination.
Ji Rong stared at the map of the mountains and rivers of the Nine Provinces, feeling that she should know the answer, but that answer was always just a little short of surfacing, and she could not fully understand it.
Unable to figure it out, he went outside.
Ji Rong strolled around the Danxue Mountains. She stopped to rest on the bronze bell of Xingluoyuan Market and watched the bustling trade below for a while.
He disguised himself as an ordinary bird and mingled among the newly awakened cubs, going with them to the Great Wind Sect's literacy center to study for half a day.
Finally, she stopped at the foot of Iron Flakes Mountain and transformed into a large tree. She stood at the Refining Sect's place, watching the miners come and go.
When the work was over, the miners and monks, exhausted from a day's labor, stopped under Ji Rong's tree trunk. They looked at the tree full of spiritual energy, stroked their claws in admiration, danced with joy, and finally, one by one, they put all their strength into climbing up the tree to rest.
Ji Rong then transformed into a mortal bird and asked them, "Why are you all staying here? Aren't you going back?"
One of the cultivators replied, "I won't go back. This tree is excellent. We've never seen such a fine tree before. I'm going to build my nest here."
"Yes, let's build a nest!"
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh," birds and beasts quickly climbed up the tree, afraid of missing this once-in-a-lifetime treasure.
They started fighting in front of Ji Rong, and the fight quickly became uncontrollable.
Looking at this scene, Ji Rong thought to herself, "In this world, there are ultimately more ordinary and weak cultivators."
The wealthy often mock and despise the poor and weak when they see them fighting over petty gains.
The terms "cheapskate, fool, and poor" arose in response to the situation, as the major Taoist clans looked down on minor clans and families in the mortal world.
Cultivators in prosperous places look down on unsung cultivators in the mountains and rivers;
The wild cultivators in the mountains and waters bullied the young cultivators who had accidentally gained wisdom and were still confused and ignorant.
Little did they know that nobility, knowledge, cultivation, and Dharma could all be bought with wealth.
The "inferior people and fools" in their eyes may very well have been just as intelligent as they were originally, but they had no roots, no stomachs, and had to struggle for survival, thus losing their path to heaven early on.
The creatures of this world, born of the creation of heaven and earth, possess cultivation, yet they do not understand the principles. The few great cultivators who are born with great difficulty, at best, only bring blessings to their clans.
They are usually satisfied with the wealth they have worked so hard to acquire, and then happily join the class that used to bully and despise them, and together they bully the weak like they used to be.
Seeing that they were fighting fiercely, Ji Rong transformed into a magic bird and shouted, "How dare you! This tree is mine, get out of here!" The miners and cultivators then tucked their tails between their legs, flapped their wings, and scattered in all directions.
Ji Rong retracted the tree trunk and flew towards Dragon and Phoenix Mountain.
As she flew, she wondered, "Are resources lacking in this world?" Actually, they are not.
But cultivation has its limits, while desires are endless. The wealthy and powerful, having exhausted all the delicacies, have long since become empty and tasteless; while the poor toil all day long, barely managing to make ends meet.
The desires of the powerful clans need to be suppressed, and the lives of the poor and lowly cultivators need to be improved. Ji Rong is unwilling to follow the crude path of killing and redistribution that Xi Zhu took. She wants to use the "Grand Ceremony of Ten Thousand Races" to establish racial confidence, integrate cultures, and establish unified rules and customs while preserving the original characteristics.
Although the road was difficult, Ji Rong knew that many powerful beings had achieved this in the world of her dreams.
Now, she will use the trajectory of another world to ensure that the creatures here have food to eat and the path to cultivation.
The foundation for the glory of all races began under the rule of Lady Ji.
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