Chapter 178: Taiping Dao? A Pawn!

The three quickly gave a brief account of their travels over the years. Yuan Wei nodded with satisfaction as he stroked his beard, especially when he learned that they had recruited some Gang-Refining martial artists during their travels.

Although they were likely able to subdue them largely by relying on the reputation of the Yuan family as a top-tier aristocratic clan, it was still quite good.

Gang-Refining martial artists are top-tier talents even within aristocratic clans. Aristocratic clans would not consider these Gang-Refining martial artists to be mere brutes.

In this era, aristocratic clans cultivate their disciples to be proficient in both literature and martial arts. Of course, there are those who are one-sided, but those who are proficient in both are the most top-tier.

Confucian disciples have the Six Arts: Rites, Music, Archery, Charioteering, Calligraphy, and Mathematics. The "Archery" here does not just refer to shooting arrows.

It is a type of martial art for mounted combat. Orthodox Confucian disciples emphasize that one can pick up a pen to pacify the world and mount a horse to stabilize the universe.

Those who can cultivate to the Gang-Refining Realm are not stupid people. Taking such people into the fold is quite beneficial for the family.

Yuan Wei understood that the Divine Han Dynasty was beset by internal and external troubles. In the imperial court, there were constant attacks, and local aristocratic clans were constantly swallowing the rights and interests of the government.

The struggles between the imperial family and the great aristocratic clans, etc., had long since made the world miserable.

Only by relying on its profound foundation could the Divine Han Dynasty continue.

However, as the head of a top-tier aristocratic clan, Yuan Wei knew more.

The Divine Han Dynasty is now like a boiling pot of oil, the temperature has reached the extreme, and perhaps a small matter could cause an explosion.

When that time comes, the world will be in chaos. Naturally, their Yuan family needs strong power to protect themselves in troubled times, and they also hope to gain more rights and interests.

As for what could cause the oil pot to explode, he already had the answer in his heart.

"In your travels over the years, do you know of this Taiping Dao?"

After praising each of them, Yuan Wei suddenly asked a question, which caught the three off guard.

"Taiping Dao?"

The three were all a bit puzzled. Of course, they had heard of the Taiping Dao.

After all, the Taiping Dao had developed to have over hundreds of millions of believers over the years. How many people were there in the Divine Han? On the surface, it was only over one billion.

That more than half of them were believers of the Taiping Dao was enough to reveal the terrifying nature of the Taiping Dao.

Moreover, during their travels, they had also encountered some Taiping Dao masters who all had cultivation in the Soul-Nourishing Realm, and they even encountered one or two Soul-Refining masters.

Although there is only a one-character difference between the Soul-Refining Realm and the Soul-Nourishing Realm, there is a huge gap.

Aristocratic clans generally focus on Soul-Refining, but there are not many who can reach the Soul-Refining Realm. Most are large aristocratic clans, at least at the commandery-prominent level, and many commandery-prominent clans are only in the Soul-Nourishing Realm.

For one, Soul Dao cultivation is very difficult. Nourishing the soul is easy, but refining the soul is difficult. Countless literati are blocked at the ninth level of Soul-Nourishing. Breaking through is like a carp leaping over the dragon gate.

If they don't break through, they remain mortals. Even if they have some ability, compared to Soul-Refining literati, they cannot extend their lifespan. Moreover, as the soul becomes higher, they can communicate with the Qi of Heaven and Earth to nourish the physical body, making their lifespan longer and longer.

It is said that a Grandmaster at the ninth level of Soul-Refining can live for five sixty-year cycles.

Martial artists refining Gang can actually extend their lifespan, but it is worse than Soul-Refining, especially for martial artists who are not good at self-cultivation. Their Gang-Qi is violent, and they often fight. When they are violent, they consume the body's origin.

Martial artists often die earlier than those who refine the soul.

Of course, Soul-Refining literati cast divine abilities and spells. Once they are excessive and consume the soul's origin, they don't die any slower than martial artists.

Especially since the soul is more mysterious and uncontrollable. Once they communicate with the Qi of Heaven and Earth with their soul, they often forget themselves, causing the soul to be consumed too severely, reducing their lifespan.

In short, both Gang-Refining and Soul-Refining are easy to damage the origin. That is to say, the Daoist school is good at self-cultivation and lives longer.

But in any case, Soul-Refining literati are exceptionally precious, especially the inheritance of Soul-Refining literati, which is even rarer.

Many aristocratic clans cannot break through to the Soul-Refining Realm precisely because they lack the cultivation method for Soul-Refining.

The Taiping Dao has Soul-Refining masters, which shows that its power is not small.

Yuan Shao stated the Soul-Refining masters he had encountered.

"Hmm! Then what do you think of this Taiping Dao?"

Yuan Wei nodded upon hearing this. He knew the power of the Taiping Dao better than Yuan Shao and the others, especially the Great Virtuous Teacher of the Taiping Dao, whose realm was even more terrifying.

It seemed that he had long since surpassed the Soul-Refining Realm of the Soul Dao.

However, Yuan Wei did not have much fear of him. Even if Zhang Jiao's strength surpassed the Soul-Refining Realm, so what? The Yuan family has stood for ten thousand years, and has been among the top aristocratic clans of the Divine Han Dynasty for thousands of years. The foundation left behind is so profound that even if it cannot compare to the Liu family, it is definitely about the same.

He did not believe that Zhang Jiao could threaten their Yuan family.

What's more, he knew even better that Zhang Jiao was just a "thug" pushed out by those old monsters of the Daoist school.

It was just to disturb the Divine Han Dynasty.

The reason why the Liu family was able to seize the world from many warlords at the end of the Qin Dynasty was inseparable from the support of the Daoist school behind them.

Zhang Liang, one of the three heroes of the early Divine Han, came from the Daoist school and was considered an outstanding figure of the Daoist school.

After the establishment of the Divine Han, the Daoist Sect also used this opportunity to develop extensively. During the reigns of the Taizu and Emperor Wen, the development of the Daoist Sect reached its peak, and Huang-Lao thought became the governing philosophy of that time.

But later, the Liu family discovered that the influence of the Daoist school on the dynasty was too great, so there was the means of "dismissing the hundred schools and respecting only Confucianism" during the Wudi period.

They used Confucianism to counter Daoism, and even drove the Daoist school out of the imperial court. Finally, after a thousand years of effort, the Daoist school eventually left the imperial court, its influence became lower and lower, and even now, it has become people of the mountains and wilderness.

It must be said that the Liu family's methods were extraordinary. Of course, this also offended the Daoist school.

Although the strength of the Daoist school was suppressed and declined a lot, it was still not easy to deal with.

This Zhang Jiao obtained the Taiping scriptures. As far as he knew, it was likely the means of several old monsters among them. Those old monsters really did not dare to confront the Divine Han Dynasty head-on, so they chose Zhang Jiao.

Zhang Jiao has developed the Taiping Dao over the years, and the Daoist school has been pushing it behind the scenes. Of course, there are also some aristocratic clans secretly acting as pushers behind the scenes.

These aristocratic clans are also dissatisfied with the Liu family, so they want to use Zhang Jiao to teach the Liu family a lesson.

As the head of a top-tier aristocratic clan, Yuan Wei naturally participated in it. Of course, they did not join forces with the Daoist school, it was just a coincidence.

There is also a part of this that wants to fish in troubled waters.

Therefore, in the eyes of many people, Zhang Jiao is just a pawn, a pawn to give the Divine Han Dynasty a ruthless blow. ===== CHAPTER 179 =====