Chapter 899: Extra 4: The Six Dharma Sect, the Five Sages of Tianqi

Extra 4: The Six Dharma Sect, the Five Sages of Tianqi

Extra 4: The Six Dharma Sect, the Five Sages of Tianqi

In the Hezhong Province, at Kangju City, outside the Republican Assembly Hall, a procession under pale-purple canopies advanced slowly, the vanguard knights all bearing two enormous tiger-head banners.

One banner read: "Princess Wei Guo Yuan of the Holy Zhou Imperial Daughter"

The other read: "Holy, Divine, Supreme, Heaven-Responding Dharma-Buddha Woman"

The meritorious ministers of the Hezhong Xia peoples, the great Confucian scholars, the eminent monks, and the wealthy merchants who had come to attend the Republican Assembly all knew at a glance that this was the arrival of the Sixteenth Imperial Daughter, Princess Wei Guo.

As for her husband, that Great King of Persia, not only did none of the Xia meritorious ministers take him seriously, Zhang Yuan herself had not even bothered to put the title of Queen of Persia on the tiger-head banners.

In everyone's eyes, the status of Sixteenth Imperial Daughter was nobler by far than Queen of Persia, as high as the heavens.

Seeing that they were almost at the Republican Assembly Hall, Princess Wei Guo quickly ordered the honor guard to halt, then dressed in military attire, took several dozen elite cavalry and rode on lightly with a small retinue.

Zhang Yuan knew very well that the people now walking ahead on this street were all the core figures of the Xia state in the five westernmost provinces, and many were National Scholars of the Wuwu Academy and the Zhaogong Academy; it was already crowded enough, and there was no need to use the honor guard to invite gossip.

And so, by doing this, Zhang Yuan immediately won cheers from the many Han people on both sides, who either praised Princess Wei Guo for being the most sensible, or praised her heroic bearing, truly worthy of a daughter of the Han.

Princess Wei Guo had come specifically to the two Republican chambers to canvass votes for the coming decisive battle, and also to draw away from the five westernmost provinces several hundred thousand Persians who had already converted to the Six Dharma Sect.

Great King of Anguo Zhang Xianyu looked with some headache at this very clever younger sister; the little one had several hundred schemes in her heart, and was especially good at exploiting her brothers' soft-heartedness, as well as borrowing a tiger's skin to raise a great banner, and was very difficult to deal with.

"Sixteenth Sister, you want to take away several hundred thousand people in one go—are you trying to empty out your maiden family all at once?" Zhang Xianyu could only ask teasingly.

Zhang Yuan smiled sweetly, presented Zhang Xianyu with hand-made pounded tea, and then said with a hint of deliberation:

"What your little sister actually wants is far more than a few hundred thousand; it would be best to take away two or three million, which would also make it convenient for my elder brothers to vacate the cage and change the birds."

Zhang Xianyu frowned; he vaguely guessed what Zhang Yuan wanted to do, and for a moment did not express his position.

Seeing that Zhang Xianyu was no longer fiercely opposed, Zhang Yuan immediately pressed on and urged: "Brother Shen and Brother Tang still have great battles to fight in India, spending money like flowing water, so we must find them some sources of wealth.

Of course, the most important thing is that the serfs from India are far more docile than the Persians of the five westernmost provinces; only after moving the Persians away will the five westernmost provinces forever be the land of our Huaxia."

Zhang Xianyu slowly shook his head. "Indian serfs are also people; they are not livestock like cattle and sheep. And people will have needs."

Zhang Yuan immediately stood up upon hearing this, her gaze burning as she stared at Zhang Xianyu. "Second Brother, you are the Western Medicine Master Lapis Lazuli Light King Buddha; this transformation should be decided by you and then reported to Father Emperor for approval.

This is the only chance to make the five westernmost provinces forever Xia land. If we wait until our generation is gone, later generations will not have this kind of resolve."

Zhang Yuan's vacate-the-cage-and-change-the-birds plan was extremely ruthless: within thirty years, more than seventy percent of the Persians in the five westernmost provinces, along with some Sogdians and other Turkic-speaking groups, would all be relocated to the Middle East of later ages, excluding Iran.

And the population gap left after the Persians were moved away would be filled by some Han people and a large number of serfs from India.

In this way, the Persians and other groups moved westward would become the core followers under Zhang Yuan, helping her and her husband suppress the Arabs of the present-day Middle East.

But just as Zhang Xianyu worried, Indians were also people, not livestock; once they arrived in the five westernmost provinces, would they not turn from guests into masters?

Therefore, this involved an even larger plan: the Six Dharma Sect of the five westernmost provinces would, in doctrine, carry out a certain degree of doctrinal reconciliation with the Brahmanism of India.

Specifically, the Six Dharma Sect of the five westernmost provinces would move its doctrine somewhat closer to Brahmanism, dividing the people of the five westernmost provinces into three identities: master, follower, and guest.

The Han people were masters; the serfs from India were guests; and the small number of Indian serfs who received the master's inspiration were followers.

Masters possessed vast tracts of land; followers were assistants; guests could not own land and could only farm for their entire lives.

This thing was not as extreme as the caste system; in fact, it was the serfdom of the later Lucia.

As long as it was implemented this way, the Han people in the five westernmost provinces would at least be rich peasants owning vast tracts of land, citizens, and could even elect National Scholars.

Followers were the running dogs selected to help with governance.

The guests at the very bottom were serfs, who could only farm and herd in the fields their whole lives.

"I wonder how our descendants will look upon me, Zhang Xianyu, several hundred years from now!" Zhang Xianyu sighed, already somewhat agreeing in his heart.

"Of course they will regard Second Brother as a great hero.

Now that the Han people have come west, there are only tens of thousands each year, while the Persians and other peoples give birth to hundreds of thousands each year. We are outsiders occupying their land; if we do not do this, in a few hundred years our descendants will all be drowned by the barbarians.

If the people are all gone, where would any criticism come from?

And in your little sister's view, later descendants will surely not slander you, Elder Brother. If there are any, then they are unfilial sons and rebellious sons, and their words are not worth hearing!"

Zhang Xianyu's gloom lifted, and he laughed long. "Sixteenth Sister is truly a heroine among women; your elder brother is not your equal! This matter must be done; let later generations judge the merits and faults!"

"My son!" In the Purple Tenuity Palace of the Divine Capital, the seventy-three-year-old Sage Zhang cried out in anguish, and a mouthful of fresh blood spurted out, sending the imperial physicians of the inner court scrambling forward to save him, while the ministers and nobles attending beside him were also terrified.

The Emperor's age itself was extremely rare among emperors from ancient times to the present; if that mouthful of blood brought about any mishap, it would be disastrous.

The sixty-five-year-old Empress Cao Yanxi, though she herself was weeping so hard she nearly fainted, still rushed forward to comfort him when she saw the Emperor spit blood:

"Though Xinzhang did not have the Sage's longevity, sixty-six years is not a short life. Your Majesty must take greater care of yourself."

Zhang Changqing, the eldest grandson of Murong Xinzhang, who had come to deliver the news, also hurriedly threw himself forward and tearfully urged, "Grandfather fought his whole life and was covered in wounds; these years he has suffered unbearably from old ailments.

Now that he can go early to the Land of Ultimate Bliss and return to the ranks of the immortals, sweeping and cleaning the Heavenly Palace while awaiting Great-Grandfather, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Please, Great-Grandfather, restrain your grief."

Zhang Zhao felt as though his chest were blocked by a great stone; he could not breathe in or swallow, and the pain was unbearable.

In his still-lucid mind, he grieved the passing of Murong Xinzhang, but at the same time he understood that at his advanced age, this time he might well have a stroke.

No one knew how long it was before the imperial physicians, drenched in sweat, fed him medicine and applied acupuncture, and only then pulled me, Sage Zhang, back from the brink of extreme danger.

As soon as I, Sage Zhang, could move, I waved my hand for the others to leave, keeping only Empress Cao Yanxi, Crown Prince Zhang Xianjing, and Prince of Yan's grandson Zhang Changqing.

"A-Liu's chronic illness has flared up again, and I fear she cannot hold on much longer. Your third elder brother is far away in Xiliu City (Kabul), and the Xia state will soon have another great campaign, so he cannot return. Only the eldest brother is in Dali; better to let him come back and attend his mother for a while."

Zhang Zhao said this to Crown Prince Zhang Xianjing, and also to Empress Cao Yanxi.

Li Ruoliu was two years older than Zhang Zhao; these past two years she had been plagued by illness, her body weakening day by day, and in her heart she longed to see her eldest son, Prince of Chu Zhang Xiancun, once more, but she truly could not bring herself to say it.

Because this situation—an unstable crown prince's position, with an elder, prestigious imperial brother staying in the capital year-round—was the thing most dreaded in every dynasty.

Cao Yanxi clearly hesitated for a moment, and was still thinking of how to reply when Crown Prince Zhang Xianjing already nodded. "Our Holy Zhou governs the realm with loyalty and filial piety. The Prince of Chu, our eldest brother, expanding the realm for the state is great loyalty; returning to the Divine Capital is pure filial piety. I shall have the Secretariat draft an edict at once, summoning the Prince of Chu back to the Divine Capital."

A satisfied smile appeared on Zhang Zhao's face. "My son indeed has the bearing of a great sovereign of an age. Let the Imperial Observatory choose a date. From now on, this burden will be carried by you."

Zhang Xianjing suddenly felt blood rush to his head, and he even swayed twice. He was forty-three years old this year! He had been Crown Prince for twenty-one years, and from birth, under his mother's strict supervision, he had been preparing for this day.

"Father Emperor is in the prime of life, with longevity beyond ten thousand years. Your son is shallow in talent and virtue, unworthy to receive this Mandate of Heaven!"

Though he coveted it desperately, Zhang Xianjing knew that at this moment he still had to decline modestly.

Zhang Zhao, however, shook his head and said with a smile: "Had Duke Huan of Qi died at the same time as Guanzhong, he would have been the foremost enlightened ruler of the Spring and Autumn period."

Had Emperor Shizong of the Former Han died a few years earlier, there would have been no Witchcraft Calamity.

Had the Great Dynasty's Emperor Xuanzong passed away at the beginning of the Tianbao era, he would likely have been regarded as a second Emperor Taizong the Cultured.

I am old now, and I still wish to leave a good name in the annals of history."

Having said this, seeing that Zhang Xianjing still wanted to speak, Zhang Zhao immediately raised a hand to stop him. "These years, your father has watched you administer the government. Perhaps you lack my far-sightedness, and you are somewhat weaker in military affairs, but in governing the state you surpass me tenfold.

Let us father and son dispense with the three refusals and three yieldings — let us get this done quickly!"

Zhang Zhao was speaking the truth. He came from a later age, so his vision and insight naturally surpassed everyone of this era, and he had an innate, self-taught talent for political struggle.

But before he transmigrated, he was merely a history blogger who played with armor. In every aspect of governing a state, he was at the level of a keyboard warrior. Even though he later learned while practicing, he was only somewhat better than the average person.

Zhang Xianjing, however, had been studying and practicing how to govern since childhood, and in this respect he indeed far surpassed him.

During the dozen or so years the Crown Prince had been administering affairs, Zhang Zhou had seen its fastest growth in every metric, from political clarity to economic development.

Today's Zhang Zhou was vast, encompassing nearly all the places Han civilization could reach, and its registered population had grown to nearly 120 million.

The Central Plains and Guanzhong, which historically had begun to decline, had instead grown ever more prosperous because of high-yield crops from the Americas and the great wealth brought back by the soldiers after their western expeditions. Far from weakening, they seemed faintly to be recovering the appearance of the Han and Tang.

The urban area of the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, kept expanding, nearly merging with Zhengzhou into a single stretch.

The Divine Capital Luoyang had over 700,000 registered households, almost comparable to the height of the Great Tang.

The population of Jingzhao, Chang'an Prefecture, had also recovered to around 600,000. New-style imperial academies rose from the ground, and the Jingzhao Imperial Academy and Chang'an Imperial Academy were renowned throughout the land.

The lands of Hebei stretched ten thousand li of fertile fields, rich in goods and abundant in people. Yecheng, Handan, Hejian, and Beiping all had populations exceeding 400,000.

In addition, Jinling Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, and Mingzhou Prefecture in Jiangnan; Guangzhou Prefecture in Lingnan; Shenyang Prefecture in Liaodong; and Osaka Prefecture in Chaori all had populations reaching several hundred thousand.

The empire's standard post roads had exploded from a total of less than six hundred li to over thirty thousand li, greatly strengthening connections between regions.

Along the coast, at Crab-Catching Port (Haishenwai), North Suzhou (Dalian), Dengzhou, Hangzhou Prefecture, Mingzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Jinzhou (Fushan), Osaka, Sendai, and Hoi An (Annam's Hoi An), large numbers of shipyards and corresponding navigation academies had been established. The shipbuilding techniques and sea routes to the Americas, India, and the Arab lands were now essentially mature.

On the steppe, the land was vast and sparsely populated. Whenever a group of fierce and brave men banded together, the monk-officials of the Six Dharma Sect would immediately report it, and the court would provide money and equipment, packing them off to the west.

The great and small meritorious officials and monk-officials who remained on the steppe held vast pasturelands, with herds of cattle and sheep and immense wealth. They enjoyed large quantities of fine polished rice and white flour, delicacies from mountain and sea, and often traveled south for pleasure.

Their sons and nephews mostly studied in the Central Plains. When they came of age, they either returned to the steppe to recruit talent and go west to build their careers, or took office or engaged in commerce within the court, almost indistinguishable from Han people.

On both sides of the Greater and Lesser Xianbei Mountains and in Andong and other places, large numbers of schools had been established. From county elementary schools to prefectural high schools, and on to provincial academies and imperial academies, the education system was the most complete.

The elite among them, having received a Han cultural education, had two paths to choose from besides serving the state and going west: going to Chaori or even to the Eastern Body Continent.

Going to Chaori, one could become a minor military officer. Starting out in the Eastern Continent was harder, but the world there was broader. Either way, they had a bright future.

Such a Zhang Zhou could absolutely be called the foremost power in the world at this time.

In these dozen or so years, Zhang Zhao had only concerned himself with the military and religion; the governance of the state had been presided over by Zhang Xianjing.

Zhang Zhao was very satisfied with his performance. This son could not become a second-generation hegemon like Emperor Taizong of Tang or Emperor Taizong of Ming, but he could be a weaker version of Emperor Wen of Han or a slightly stronger version of the Qing Shizong, Yongzheng.

Zhang Xianjing heard Zhang Zhao deliberately stress the words "get this done quickly," and understood that his father meant for him to settle this matter before his eldest brother, the Prince of Chu, Zhang Xiancun, returned to the Divine Capital, lest certain ambitious men let their imaginations run wild.

At the same time, he saw that his father truly intended to abdicate, and so he no longer declined, only weeping uncontrollably.

Whether he was weeping for his twenty-some years — nearly forty years, one should say — of toil, or for something else, was unclear.

In any case, it had not been easy. His sworn elder brother, the Prince of Yan, Murong Xinzhang; his eldest brother, the Prince of Chu, Zhang Xiancun; and his second brother, the Prince of An, Zhang Xianyu, were all renowned throughout the world as enlightened rulers and peerless commanders.

The three of them also corresponded respectively, within the Six Dharma Sect, to the Eastern Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, the Southern Ratnasambhava Tathagata, and the Western Medicine Master Vairocana Buddha.

One could say that each of these three had advantages over him, and each had the capital to inherit the great throne. One can imagine how great the pressure on Zhang Xianjing was.

After Zhang Xianjing and Empress Cao Yanxi had left, Zhang Zhao called Zhang Changqing over.

Their branch of the family had abandoned the Murong surname and changed it to Zhang, which had also been strongly advocated by Murong Xinzhang.

This was because Zhang Changqing, and Murong Xinzhang's eldest son Zhang Nengyi, who was waiting in Osaka Prefecture for his investiture, were different from the second son, who had been enfeoffed in Korea.

Korea was squeezed between Penglai and Lelang. The navy could set out from Dengzhou and arrive within days; there was not the slightest possibility of breaking away.

But Chaori was different. Therefore, in order to prevent the Prince of Yan's line from growing estranged from the imperial house, Murong Xinzhang had not let his eldest son bear the surname Murong, but had him take the surname Zhang directly, following the imperial house's rules.

"Grandfather has passed away. Father wishes for Great-Grandfather to take back Grandfather's title of Eastern Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Apart from Grandfather, no one in the Chaori Zhang clan can bear this title."

Zhang Changqing peeled an apple and handed it to Zhang Zhao, then said quietly to him.

Zhang Zhao nodded. The child Huzi still knew when to advance and retreat. With his ability and virtue, he truly could not bear the title of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

But it seemed Huzi was still reluctant to let it go, so he had sent his son Zhang Changqing to act cute before Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao thought for a moment, then said slowly: "Build a Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva ritual center for your grandfather. Enshrine the armor, weapons, and such that he used in life, and let his descendants serve as the masters of the ritual center."

Zhang Changqing quickly nodded in agreement. In this way, the title of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva would forever remain with the Chaori Zhang clan. Although the descendants would no longer have the divine status, they would at least hold the position of high priest.

The twenty-fifth year of Qianyuan of Zhang Zhou, December, 985 CE.

The aged Heavenly Khagan, King of Kings of the Far West, Golden Wheel Sage King of India, the last Tsanpo among men, eternal mentor of the Caliph, great benevolent father of all the tribes of the Far West, the Great Zhou Supreme Divine Emperor Zhang Zhao issued in succession the final two edicts of his reign as emperor.

The first: posthumously conferring upon the deceased Great King of Yan, Murong Xinzhang, the title of Crown Prince, granting the good son his place in the Zhang family. His posthumous name was Huanwu, and he was called Crown Prince Huanwu.

Originally, the highest posthumous name for a military commander was Zhongwu, but someone like Murong Xinzhang was certainly not a mere military commander. Therefore the posthumous name Huanwu was added, taking the meaning of "Huan" as "pacifying the four directions by force" — a very fitting description of Murong Xinzhang's life.

At the same time, he ordered Murong Xinzhang's eldest son, Zhang Nengyi, to transport Murong Xinzhang's remains back to the Divine Capital Luoyang, to be buried alongside the Zhao Mausoleum.

From Chaori Province onward, wherever the coffin passed, civil and military officials, gentry and commoners, and meritorious officials of lower generation than Murong Xinzhang were all to wear plain mourning clothes to welcome and see it off. Weddings and funerals throughout the empire were to cease for three months as a sign of mourning.

As for the two territories Murong Xinzhang had conquered, Chaori and Korea, Zhang Zhao enfeoffed Murong Xinzhang's eldest son, Zhang Nengyi, as Great King of Yan, to continue ruling Chaori Province.

He enfeoffed Murong Xinzhang's third son, Murong Zaide, as Prince of Korea, to rule Korea Province.

He further permitted Murong Xinzhang's second grandson, Zhang Changsi, to marry the eleventh daughter of the Prince of Chu, Zhang Xiancun, the Princess of Kunming, and gave Penglai Province as her dowry, enfeoffing Murong Xinzhang's second grandson, Zhang Changsi, as Prince of Penglai, to hold the land in perpetuity.

And the second matter was the edict of abdication.

At seventy-four years old, Zhang Zhao no longer had that much energy.

He estimated he had only eight or ten good years left. It was indeed time to hand over power and let his son take charge. The world belonged to the young.

On the twenty-fifth of December, Zhang Zhao held his final grand court assembly in the Qianming Hall of the Purple Tenuity Palace, and personally read out the edict.

From this day forward, he would retire to the Shangyang Palace, situated on the heights by the Luo River northwest of the Divine Capital Luoyang, and be called the Supreme Divine Retired Emperor.

The exultant Zhang Xianjing wished to select a hundred new beauties for his imperial father to delight his old age, but Zhang Zhao declined with a smile.

For at his side there remained the thirty-five-year-old Little Zhou Empress, whose beauty outshone all others, and the thirty-two-year-old wife of the last Caliph, the Arab beauty Maimuna.

Though in a young man's eyes a beautiful, mature woman in her thirties is already past her prime, in the eyes of a man in his seventies, she's a tender little loli, all right.

And these two aren't just peerlessly beautiful — they come with status attached. At his age, having them means he truly doesn't need anything else in life.

Five days later, on the first day of the first month, a grand enthronement ceremony was held in the Qianming Hall of the Ziwei Palace.

Amid the delighted, proud gaze of his mother Cao Yanxi, Zhang Xianjing ascended the throne as the second Emperor of the Zhang Zhou dynasty, changing his name to Zhang Jiong and adopting the reign title Xianyong.

Jiong means sunlight, carrying the sense of illuminating the earth.

Yong means unity, and also carries the sense of grace and magnanimity.

Zhang Xianjing's reign title was a clear declaration to the people of this land: so long as all stand united, every son of the Han will reap the benefits, and the good days — when everyone can live as a person of dignity — are about to arrive.

In Damascus, Xiang Minzhong — Secretary of the Regency Shogunate of the Five Western Provinces and Chancellor of the Jin vassal state — swaggered into the court of the Fatimid Caliph al-Aziz with several dozen armored soldiers.

Caliph al-Aziz stared coldly at this man from the East, while the Fatimid ministers and senior clergy of the Heavenly Creed in the court glared at Xiang Minzhong with equal fury.

Xiang Minzhong was not afraid in the slightest. He had come precisely to stir up trouble, and he was certain the Egyptians lacked the nerve to do anything to him. Even if something unexpected happened, it would simply let his name go down in history.

"Your Highness al-Aziz, you are originally people of Egypt. Why must you wade into these muddy waters?"

Xiang Minzhong's words nearly made al-Aziz's nose twist with rage. You're the damn outsiders here!

But a dignified Caliph could hardly stoop to quarreling with an envoy, so he merely said coldly:

"Whatever the envoy says, it cannot conceal the fact that you are invaders. We came to Damascus to defend the Holy Faith. Go back and tell that traitor Ansu: the martyrs will be waiting for him in Damascus."

Xiang Minzhong gave a cold snort. "It seems you still refuse to accept reality, still clinging to rotten old notions and refusing to accept fresh ideas. Little do you know that a new truth has already descended upon the lands of the East!"

"Truth descended here long ago, and here it shall remain forever! Only Mahmud is the truth!" roared a Grand Akhund, trembling from head to foot with rage.

Xiang Minzhong immediately seized upon the slight verbal slip born of the man's fury and jabbed his finger back at him.

For Xiang Minzhong, if he succeeded and withdrew safely, he could return to the Central Lands and enter the central government; if he failed, his name would still be remembered in history. Either way, it was a bargain.

"I warn you: Mahmud is merely one of the Five Sages of Divine Revelation. He is not the truth — he is only a preacher of the truth.

Now that the final Sage has already descended upon the earth, if you still remain obstinate and unrepentant, then you are all sinners!

The True Lord shall send down heavenly punishment, and the celestial soldiers and generals who have grasped the truth shall judge your sins!"

The doctrine of the Six Laws Sect had evolved yet again. The Confucian scholars of the Great Zhou had created the concept of the Five Sages of Divine Revelation.

That is, Confucius, Shakyamuni, Jehovah, Mahmud, and Zhang Zhao were designated as the five mortal sages who had received divine revelation.

Building further on the Scripture of Laozi Converting the Barbarians, Laozi was assigned the role of ferryman of the truth.

In the scriptures of the Six Laws Sect, the sole true god of the world is the Heavenly Dao that governs the laws by which the world operates. In the primordial chaos, the Heavenly Dao chose Laozi Li Er as its enlightening emissary.

Thus Laozi first enlightened Kong Qiu, granting him sudden insight and thereby establishing ritual and propriety.

Next he enlightened Shakyamuni, who founded Buddhism.

Then he enlightened Jehovah, and thus came the Law of Great Qin.

Enlightening Mahmud produced the Law of Dashi.

Finally, beyond the Jade Gate Pass, he enlightened Zhang Zhao, sending him to India in search of the truth.

At this point, the Buddha Shakyamuni was transformed into something like a senior disciple receiving a junior on his master's behalf — he enlightened Zhang Zhao in place of the Heavenly Dao, and Zhang Zhao then founded the Six Laws Sect, which rested upon Buddhism.

These five are the Five Sages of Divine Revelation. Kong Qiu was the first, and Zhang Zhao is the last.

And after Zhang Zhao, no more divinely revealed sages shall ever appear — there will only be mortal sages who attain enlightenment through their own efforts.

This was an extremely formidable move, because from then on, the Six Laws Sect no longer needed to fight religious wars.

You believe in the Law of Great Qin, he believes in the Law of Dashi — what's the problem? You may believe; all may believe.

You only need to acknowledge the Five Sages of Divine Revelation. After all, you're the ones who play the game of divine revelation and prophets.

And once these religions acknowledge the Five Sages of Divine Revelation, their systems will take on the appearance of having collapsed within while remaining outwardly intact.

The Six Laws Sect could suddenly become a participant in sectarian disputes within any religion, rather than being heretics.

From then on, when the various religions encountered internal affairs, they could even invite Zhang Zhao to adjudicate.

The final Sage of Divine Revelation, the only living prophet of all humanity left in the world — that is how immense his authority was.

However, the ones promoting this doctrine at full force were the court and Confucian scholars of the Central Lands. Even within the Six Laws Sect itself, many still regarded Zhang Zhao as a god, and they were deeply dissatisfied with the demotion of the Buddha and the Supreme Heaven to the status of divinely revealed sages.

This cast a veil of mysterious uncertainty over the future course of the Six Laws Sect for centuries to come.

But for now, war was the only means.

The new book is expected to be released this weekend. Sigh! There's too little source material, and what I found early on conflicts with my later thinking — it nearly fried this tiger's dog-brain.

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