Daqin, Chang'an.

This city can almost be regarded as the largest city in the entire cultivation world.

There are three inner and outer floors, the outermost layer is where ordinary people live, and it is divided into hundreds of urban areas, where tens of millions of people live.

The inner floor, divided into more than twenty districts, was almost entirely inhabited by monks.

And in the most core place, it is called the 'city on the clouds', and from a distance, it really looks like a real fairy palace.

The spiritual veins of Chang'an City, both in terms of concentration and scale, are the best in the entire cultivation world.

And it is worth mentioning that the Great Qin Imperial Palace is not in the city above the clouds, but at the foot of the city above the clouds. This location, although it is also a very central location in the inner city, but in terms of status, it is obviously not comparable to the city high above the clouds.

It's really not on one level.

In the Great Qin Dynasty, the emperor is of course also the supreme ruler of this country. However, this is merely secular kingship. In the Qin State, there is another feature that is rare in other countries.

State religion.

The state religion of Daqin is the spiritual pillar of the entire Daqin society. Theoretically, from the commoners who had no spiritual experience to the emperors at the peak of the Fa Xiang, they were all followers of the state religion.

One can imagine how important the authority of this so-called state religion is.

Of course, as the leader of the regime, the Great Qin Emperor was not without authority. The administrative power of the dynasty and the army were still firmly held in the hands of this emperor.

In the earliest days, the influence of the Great Qin State Religion on the country was not so strong. Even, in the very beginning, they did not have the name of 'state religion', and in the eyes of the outside world, it was just a religion that could train monks.

And as time passed, they became larger and larger, with more and more believers, and penetrated into the lives of the Qin people, and both the monks and the people received a very careful influence, and eventually became the so-called state religion.

But even when they first became the state religion, their influence was roughly limited to the tools that they could use to rule the country by the emperor and government of Qin.

This situation lasted for a long, long time, but after the current reigning Emperor of Great Qin, Qin Shang succeeded to the throne, some changes slowly began to take place.

On the eve of Qin Shang's ascension to the throne, he was only a monk at the Yuanying level. In the powerful Great Qin Dynasty, even if he was the prince of the purest bloodline, if he only had such strength, it would be impossible to compete for the throne of the emperor.

Great Qin, since the founding of the country, there has really never been an emperor below the level of the law phase.

At that time, Qin Shang had an older sister and a younger brother, all of whom were strong people at the level of the Law Minister, and it stands to reason that the throne has nothing to do with him at all.

Even if he was supported by the state religion that was already very influential in the Qin State at that time, according to the tradition of the Qin State, it was still unlikely that he would be able to take over the position of emperor.

However, then, a miraculous thing happened: in just two years, Qin Shang went from the Yuanying level strength that was not qualified to compete for the imperial power at all to the Faxiang stage.

But in fact, even so, he who has become the Faxiang is difficult to compare with his sister and younger brother.

The main reason is one point: his sister and younger brother are both old and old, and they are both in the middle and backwards. And the battle for imperial power is already on the verge of imminent, even if Qin Shang has become a monk at the level of the law phase, but how can the new law phase that has just broken through compete with others?

However, that's what happened.

Qin Shang won, and in the suppression of his sister's rebellion, he crushed and defeated and killed the other party on the spot with an absolute advantage. His younger brother, on the other hand, wisely chose to surrender and quickly became a member of the state religion in the coming years.

After becoming a cultist, Qin Shang's younger brother has also become a very loyal courtier of the entire empire, and he is at his disposal at any time, which is completely different from the personality when he competed with him for the throne before.

How he quickly broke through to the level of the law phase, and how he was able to easily eliminate his rivals for the throne when he had just broken through to the level of the law phase, I am afraid that this is inseparable from the state religion.

People with a little more insight and a little normal brain can easily realize this.

It is precisely because of this that the state religion really began to come to the forefront.

Qin people, before this, although many people were true believers in the state religion, there were not so many true fanatical believers and those who were willing to completely shed their blood for the state religion. The state religion, in the political life of the Qin people, is more like a spiritual supplement, and it is not even a pillar status.

However, after the state religion succeeded in supporting Qin Shang to the position of emperor, everything changed a lot.

And in the future, since the state religion can put Qin Shang on the throne, then they naturally have their own demands.

After Qin Shang came to power, the atmosphere of the entire Great Qin Dynasty began to undergo some changes rapidly.

The most concentrated manifestation of these changes lies in the fact that the authority of the state religion has been strengthened step by step.

Although, the management of the entire empire, from the local administration, to the cultivation of monks, to the army of monks in the empire, was still decided by the imperial court and the emperor, and the state religion showed little interest in getting involved in this part of the power.

However, where they really control is people's spirits.

A large number of people have really become believers in the state religion, the kind that is very determined.

Although, on weekdays, people do things and develop mainly by the orders of the imperial court and various local forces, but in the minds of most Qin people, a religious concept has gradually emerged - the status of the state religion is supreme.

And the belief of the state religion is also very well packaged. They don't have a single concept of God.

If it's just a 'god', in the world of cultivation, it's not very popular. The monks all have powerful and extraordinary powers, as long as they go up step by step, although it is difficult, as long as they can walk up, they can obtain the ability to move mountains and reclaim the sea. In such a world, it is unrealistic to expect people to have too much worship of such things as 'gods'.

For the vast majority of monks in their right minds, even if there is such a thing as a god, the monks usually tend to recognize it as a more powerful monk, and it is difficult to think that this is an all-knowing and all-powerful god.

The interesting thing about the packaging of the state religion is that they package the whole doctrine into a kind of 'Tao'.

This kind of 'Tao' is a kind of concept and a kind of value. The core concept is 'order'.

The state religion does not talk about good and evil, and they don't mind good or evil. They are more concerned with the 'order' itself.

And under the impetus of the state religion, the laws of the entire Great Qin State have gradually become detailed and strict over the years. Moreover, the implementation is completely impersonal and strictly in accordance with the law.

And from the monks to the general public, the recognition of order is also deepening under the continuous expansion of the belief in the state religion.

Of course, it is not in human nature, whether ordinary people or monks, to obey the order perfectly. There are always those who want to be free, or those who are wicked. Some of them naturally don't like such uncomfortable restraints, and some are even dissatisfied with some evil laws formulated by the Qin State.

However, such people, regardless of their status, were brutally suppressed by the state religion.

In this regard, the state religion has always been dealt with by a set of methods - first excommunication, then the government declares it a crime, and then the strictest rules are used to deal with it.

Under this disposition, a large number of people died.

After getting a lot of information about the Qin State, Lu Qing always had a very strange feeling.

There is certainly nothing wrong with valuing order. A high degree of order means that the entire society has a high degree of organization and mobilization capacity, and the whole society can concentrate its forces on doing great things.

However, there is a degree to everything.

There is nothing wrong with strictly enforcing the law, but is the law itself necessarily good? In Lu Qing's understanding, the law itself has been formulated, and of course it needs to be enforced. However, when making laws, perhaps because the lawmakers did not consider it well, or because of the interests of the lawmakers, or simply because of the changes in the times and society, some laws that were originally good became less and more appropriate.

In this case, in addition to enforcing the law, there should also be corresponding policies that allow people to discover and adjust those outdated orders.

However, the Qin state did not have such a mechanism.

Some laws, in Lu Qing's opinion, are simply evil laws, but these laws are still meticulously enforced. Not to mention violating the law, even if they do not violate the law, they will be persecuted if they simply express dissatisfaction with the law.

Moreover, when the law is enforced, it is done in full accordance with the provisions without any consideration of the matter itself, which is of course also a manifestation of evil.

The combination of these two items makes the atmosphere of the entire Great Qin Kingdom very depressing and terrifying.

But I have to say that the power of order is still very terrifying.

Under a strong order, the power of the Qin State can be concentrated very well. The mobilization capacity of the society was very strong, the army was very well organized, and it was difficult for spies to operate in the environment of the Qin state. All kinds of methods of monitoring the people and the monks are everywhere, but these excessive powers breed corruption......

In short, this is a country that makes Lu Qing feel a little uncomfortable.

And back to the Qin state itself.

In the Great Qin Palace, the current Great Qin Emperor, Qin Shang, changed into a gown.

This is the most grand attire for an emperor. Not only the Qin State, but almost all countries have similar attire. Because it is troublesome to wear and very uncomfortable to wear, most emperors don't like it very much. Unless it is on some very formal occasions where you can't wear them, the emperors don't like to wear such a set of troublesome things in ordinary times and in private.

Qin Shang is the same.

But today, there are no activities such as grand court meetings and great memorials in the Great Qin State, and the emperor does not seem to have to do so.

It's just that Qin Shang, who was full of solemnity at the moment, seemed to be about to announce some very important decision.

And in the empty Great Qin Palace where he was, there was only one person by his side.

Great Qin National Teacher, Fang Ziliang.

"Your Majesty, the minister finally asks you, if you take this step, you can't turn back. ”

"I know. Qin Shang's face was serious, "It's just, if you don't do this, how can you deal with Yan Guo?"

"Stop, is it really necessary?"

This is Fang Ziliang's biggest question.

Before he became a national teacher, he was Qin Shang's personal teacher and Qin Shang's most important adviser, whether it was before or after Qin Shangcheng became emperor, he was Qin Shang's most trusted person.

It is precisely this identity that makes Fang Ziliang see all the changes in Qin Shang step by step over the long years.

He could understand the eloquence in Qin Shang's heart. However, is the state religion a good thing? Back then, what price Qin Shang paid in order to become the emperor of Great Qin, Fang Ziliang knew better than anyone else.

Abandoning all emotions such as joy, disgust, and anger, with the help of the state religion, Qin Shang became a monk at the level of the law and became the emperor of Great Qin.

But without these, is it still a person?

Too ruthless...... Order above all else...... These things, Fang Zi always had doubts in his conscience.

He didn't know if this path was really the right one.

However, this really helped Qin Shang become the emperor, and it also really made Great Qin's national strength grow day by day. At the beginning, Fang Ziliang was just suspicious, but it was difficult to object, after all, this was an agreement made by Qin Shang with the state religion in order to become the emperor.

But later, as the influence of the state religion grew, he, as the Great Qin National Teacher, felt more and more that something was wrong, but by the time he wanted to do something, it was already too late.

Many things, after they have already taken that step, there is no way to get them back.

It's not that he doesn't understand that the Qin State wants to go further and become stronger, and it must continue to expand outward. However, is it really necessary for Great Qin to unify the entire cultivation world? Is it really necessary to go east and compete with the Yan Kingdom, which is in the limelight?

Even if it's a struggle for hegemony, do you really have to pay these prices?

Qin Shang, as the Emperor of Great Qin, has grown rapidly over the years and has become a monk at the peak level of the Law Phase. He wanted to go one step further and enter the level of the Divine Sea that only existed in legends and that no one had seen with his own eyes for a long, long time. But last time, Qin Shang had already given all his human emotions in exchange for everything he had now, and this time, what else did Qin Shang have to give?

Fang Ziliang didn't know, but he didn't believe that the Church of the Kingdom had such good intentions.

He knew the high-level members of the state church, and in his opinion, they were emotionless machines, not at all like people, but more like pure clay sculptures.