: Chapter 246: Severing Karma
Yue Country perished.
When Lu Yuan received the news, even though he had anticipated it in his heart, he still couldn’t help being shocked for a long time.
How could a dynasty that had dominated Jiangnan for more than two hundred years just be gone like that?
The rise and fall in the world is truly lamentable.
However, after sighing with emotion for a while, he began to take action.
Since Yue Country had already perished, and it seemed that the newly established Ning Country, which had replaced it, had also survived its founding crisis.
Through a Northern Expedition, they repelled the Zhou people, completely drove away external threats, and stood firm in the troubled times.
In that case, the relationship between his Changsha State and the new Ning Country should be carefully considered.
“I am now cultivating the Way of Taiping, which is the Fortune Dao.
According to this Dao, if Yue Country is regarded as a big tree, and my Changsha Country originated from Yue Country’s enfeoffment, then it is the branches and leaves of the big tree.
Changsha Country gathers Qi Luck, just like the photosynthesis of leaves, absorbing nutrients from the outside world. This absorbed Qi Luck can retain a part of the difference, but eventually, it still has to separate some, to maintain the survival of the main trunk.
Therefore, the Qi Luck gathered by Changsha Country is innately required to divide two or three parts, or even more than half, for the Yue State court.
This is the meaning of branch origin.”
Now, as the cultivation of the Taiping Dao becomes more and more profound, some things that Lu Yuan didn’t notice when he was cultivating have gradually been discovered.
For example, with every cycle of Qi Luck, he could always feel that the Qi Luck he absorbed was not the entirety of the gathered Qi Luck.
The Qi Luck provided by millions of people in Changsha’s territory seems to be intercepted partly and led in an unknown direction.
This intercepted Qi Luck probably accounts for about 30% of his total Qi Luck.
At the beginning, when Lu Yuan first learned this way with no guidance, he had no idea why his Qi Luck would be intercepted by others.
Even though he was angry and unwilling in his heart, there was nothing he could do about it.
But a few days ago, most of the Qi Luck that was intercepted suddenly returned, and the final loss reduced to about 10%.
This, of course, made Lu Yuan curious.
Nevertheless, after careful consideration, it was still due to his limited horizons and experience that he could not figure out much.
In the end, he could only accept the fact with confusion and joy, and then work even harder to cultivate the Taiping Dao Book.
It wasn’t until today when the news from Jinling City in the east informed him of Yue Country’s demise and the establishment of Ning Country that Lu Yuan suddenly realized that it was the Yue State court that had been intercepting his Qi Luck all along.
Thinking about it makes sense.
Changsha country is derived from Yue country, and was originally a fiefdom established by Yue Country’s granting the Dongting Prefecture.
There has been a distinction between master and subject in terms of their relationship.
In fact, all along, the banner Lu Yuan had been carrying bore the name of Changsha in the Yue dynasty. In the eyes of people from other countries, Changsha was a vassal state of Da Yue and not an independent state.
Not just him, but also the four countries of Southsea, Ninghai, Xichuan, and Hanzhong are, in the eyes of outsiders, lords under the banner of Da Yue.
The Five Nations in One Morning were actually one entity.
Otherwise, during the previous Northern Expedition, why did Changsha, Southsea, and Ninghai have to accept the deployment of Yue State court and send 100,000 troops each to participate in the Northern Expedition?
After participating in the Northern Expedition, the three kings remained, so why did they have to follow the command of Wuan Marquis Bai Mengyang, willingly allowing their kingdoms to receive orders from a minister from another country?
Aren’t all these facts testimony to the master-servant relationship between Changsha and the other regional states, and the Yue State court?
No need to discuss the actual internal situation.
Regardless, to outsiders, the situation was just like that.
That’s why, even though Yue Country’s strength had declined significantly, with only five prefectures remaining under direct jurisdiction, they could still hold the status of the Master of Yangzhou while on par with Liang Country, which occupied ten prefectures, and Zhou Country, which lost half of Hanzhong and more than half of Xiangyang, leaving only seven prefectures.
What is the reason?
Aren’t the five vassal kingdoms under Yue State court’s jurisdiction still nominally ruling over ten prefectures?
It is this seemingly vast territory that has maintained the status of Yue as the hegemon.
It is also precisely because of this fiefdom tribute system that, regardless of source or status, Changsha Country is subjected to Yue Country.
Under such circumstances, the Qi Luck that he gathered had to be divided by 30%, which was intercepted and given to the Yue State court.
“Now that Yue Country is gone, the original master-servant relationship and tribute system naturally no longer exist. So the intercepted 30% Qi Luck came back by 20%.
Then why didn’t the remaining 10% return?”
Lu Yuan pondered and frowned: “Could it be that the newly established Ning Country, which inherited the legitimate lineage of Yue Country, also inherited part of the big cause of my name, and that’s why it was able to intercept the remaining 10% of Qi Luck?
If I continue to acknowledge Ning Country’s leading position and become a vassal state under its tribute system, wouldn’t the now returned 20% be intercepted again?
If it’s really like this, then the relationship between me and Ning country needs to be thoroughly discussed.”
For him, there is nothing more important than Qi Luck in the current situation.
The more Qi Luck, the faster the practice of the Taiping Dao Book and the progress of the realm.
Under the tribute system, it seems that only 30% of the Qi Luck was intercepted, leaving 70% behind.
However, it was not just 30% of the Qi Luck that was snatched away from Lu Yuan, but also his cultivation speed was brutally cut by 30%.