Emperor Taichang summoned the Prime Minister and the relevant ministers of all departments to inquire about related matters.

Currently, the court was dominated by the Donglin Party, and as soon as they heard that the Emperor wanted Daoist Temples to be constructed across the nation, they immediately came out in opposition.

The Emperor patiently explained to them that Master Yuan Yang was a true Immortal Master with real Divine Power.

Yet the ministers were still not convinced, with Prime Minister Ye Xianggao leading the charge, arguing that with disasters and famines occurring everywhere in the country and the relief silver being inadequate, how could they afford to engage in such large-scale construction and build Daoist Temples everywhere?

The Emperor said there was no need for the state to spend any money; Master Yuan Yang would solve it himself.

But the ministers still disagreed, "If the Taoists don't want money, they must want land. As soon as the Emperor decrees it, they will undoubtedly seize good farmland by tricky means, competing with the common people for land."

The Emperor then presented the blueprints drawn by Shi Feiyang: "There are a total of seventy-two provincial capitals across the country. In each, one Daoist Temple will be built to the east and another to the west of the city, all located on high ground outside the city limits. Each Daoist Temple will occupy no more than twenty acres of land and will not be allocated any farmland, relying entirely on their own incense offerings for self-sufficiency."

"That won't work either..."

The ministers cited a multitude of historical examples where Taoists had brought disaster to the country and harm to the people, asserting that if the Emperor did not heed their advice and continued on his course, he would meet the same fate as Emperors Huizong and Qinzong of the Song Dynasty.

Emperor Taichang was so frustrated that his heart was congested. Shi Feiyang ignored him, telling him to figure it out himself, or he would leave if the Emperor couldn't solve it.

Emperor Taichang truly believed in Shi Feiyang's prediction of a future where Yin outweighs Yang since numerous signs had already appeared over the years, and disasters and famines had begun to emerge in the world.

Moreover, Shi Feiyang was the man his father had wished for all his life but never encountered, and now he had descended from heaven to help him through the disasters of the entire dynasty; he couldn't let Shi Feiyang just walk away.

Quickly, Emperor Taichang came up with a solution: He issued an edict to the royal family members across the land, asking them to provide land for the State Preceptor to construct Daoist Temples.

Members of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty were enfeoffed across the country, nearly every place owned substantial farmland and estates.

These princes and dukes had heard about the miraculous encounter that Emperor Wanli had with an Immortal in the past—the severe foot rot visible to bone, the lifelong headache and toothache, that were cured by the Immortal's medicine.

Emperor Wanli had built such a grand Immortal Palace for Yuan Yang, and curiousity filled their hearts. Many princes even sought opportunities to visit the Capital to see the Immortal Palace. Even if they couldn't come in person, they would send envoys to gather information, some even commissioning artists to create paintings of it.

When they heard that Master Yuan Yang had returned and was planning to build Daoist Temples across the country, an edict personally issued by the Emperor, local princes and dukes expressed their support one after another!

Prince Zhu Suqing of Zhou was the first to submit a petition, offering thirty thousand acres of land outside Kaifeng City for Master Yuan Yang to build a Dharma Platform, along with a hundred thousand acres of good farmland for the Daoist Temples.

Then, the kings of Zheng, Lu, Dai, Qin, Jin, and others submitted petitions one after another, donating substantial amounts of farmland and real estate. Some princes offered myriads of acres, some donated a whole mountain, and others directly contributed gold and silver wealth.

Emperor Taichang was pleased, and since the royal family was willing to donate, the ministers no longer had any say.

Many members of the Ming royal family were super landlords, and indeed many ministers were also major landlords, each having their own private fortunes. As they fell into different categories, even if the ministers were unhappy, they could only look on helplessly.

Shi Feiyang and Emperor Taichang swiftly identified one hundred and forty-four parcels of land on the map. To avoid future prodigal and decadent habits by the disciples of Snow Mountain and the Qingcheng Sect, they still followed the original plan to use only twenty acres of land for each location, constructing three courtyards before and after the Daoist Temple.

He sketched out a rough blueprint, with the main focus being the Heaven and Earth Observation Dharma Platform in the central courtyard spanning east to west. Everything else was less important.

As for the construction itself, Shi Feiyang did not need to worry about the details or the finances, leaving it for the local royal family to manage.

The members of the royal family were very interested and eagerly financed and organized the effort, hiring the best craftsmen and artists. Some who understood architecture even personally took part in creating gardens, piling up rare stones and surrounding them with artificial hills, or constructing elaborately carved handrails and connected pavilions, creating a picturesque and tranquil environment at every turn.

These folks all wanted to build Daoist Temples well so that when an Immortal descended, they would have the chance to visit and seek guidance...

The Ming royal family could not leave their enfeoffed lands; going to the Capital required special circumstances and a very convincing excuse. They wished to meet the Immortals in the Capital, and now, with only a moderately sized Daoist Temple to build, they had a chance to see the Immortals. It was too good an opportunity to pass up!

Daoist Temples were being constructed vigorously everywhere, with the royal family pouring in massive amounts of money, vying to build the fastest or the best, in anticipation of an Immortal's descent.

With the issue of the Daoist Temples resolved, the next challenge was manpower. Shi Feiyang instructed Ling Hun and Jiang Shu to quickly train usable disciples.

Each of the two sects had seventy-two Daoist Temples to maintain, which meant they each needed to train at least one hundred and forty-four capable individuals.

Both Ling Hun and Jiang Shu were somewhat reluctant. They practiced "small class teaching," selecting the best among the best disciples and calculating every aspect of their training. They would admit only those who were truly talented, so how could they admit disciples indiscriminately, by the hundreds? If word of such actions were to spread throughout the world, it would be a joke.

Sighing, Shi Feiyang set the criteria for the disciples:

Each location would provide thirty suitable youths nominated by the local government or the royal family, who must be literate and numerate with knowledge of mathematics.

Disciples such as Liu Quan and Yang Xu would then interview these candidates in each location, picking out ten clever and sensible ones.

These ten young Taoists would be responsible for the daily operations within the Daoist Temple, receiving two taels of silver each month. They would learn some basic breathing and body refining exercises, as well as martial arts for health cultivation, including internal and external refining, boxing, and weaponry. After more than ten years of cultivation, they could become top martial artists.

Ling Hun and Jiang Shu would also need to travel to each location to select about three individuals as named disciples, to whom they would teach the foundational techniques of Immortal Cultivation. They also needed to learn about observing the heavens and earth and the methods of mathematical divination.

This workload was "enormous" for both of them. Those accustomed to cultivation inMountain caves were very reluctant to interact with ordinary people, finding it chaotic, trivial, and meaningless.

But the task they were undertaking now was meaningful, and despite their internal resistance, they still needed to continue with it.

Shi Feiyang took out twenty thousand taels of silver and two thousand taels of gold for them to use in the operation of the Daoist Temple and told them, "The 'Tao Te Ching' contains extensive content on governing a country. Though mundane affairs can be taxing to the mind, if one can tackle them with ease like a skillful butcher carving an ox, they also serve as a means to refine the heart. Moreover, there is the saying that if one cannot be a great minister, they can still be a great doctor. The Dao employed in self-cultivation and state governance is the same.

You can have your disciples manage the accounts, or you can find a mortal to handle it."

Jiang Shu said, "I originally wanted to establish a sect, considering that the Immortals also need to establish alliances and interact with various sects, and engage in mortal affairs such as taking in disciples and spreading the faith. Chen Taizhen has a talent in this area, and I had already been focusing on cultivating him for this, so now it is suitable to have him manage it."

After hearing this, Ling Hun thought about his own two disciples, Liu Quan and Zhao Guangdou, who were both recluses from the mountains unskilled in such affairs. To manage this, he would need Xiao Yi, whom he had taken in as a disciple in the past two years.

Xiao Yi's father was the previous village head of Woyun Village, and he was the current village head. Since childhood, he had been trained as the future village head. He was accustomed to managing the village's finances, distributing tasks, and resolving neighborhood conflicts, all these tasks were second nature to him. His only fault was his stubbornness and susceptibility to the manipulations of deceitful individuals, which had led to suspicion towards his wife—a grave error.

However, having made him walk all the way from Yuan River to Great Snow Mountain, and then kneel and knock his head on the ground with each step to the entrance of the cave, had already tempered that stubbornness in him, making him fit for the task.

Ling Hun then called over Xiao Yi to serve as the chief abbot of all seventy-two Snow Mountain Daoist Temples across the entire world, to manage the personnel and finances of these Daoist Temples in the human world.

For the Qingcheng Sect, it was Chen Taizhen, the walker of the Five Mountains, who took the role.

Shi Feiyang handed over the gold and silver to them. These were the spoils he had obtained from breaking the Chuan Deng Temple and the Zhuanlun Temple. Those Barbarian Monks were skilled at hoarding and amassing wealth; the utensils they used were made of gold and silver and adorned with gems. The full-meter-tall Golden Lamp Tree, for instance, had been reforged by Shi Feiyang using True Fire into hundreds of gold bricks, and the number of silver bricks was even more.

Both sects received the gold and silver and set out to select and train usable disciples and followers.

Shi Feiyang then brought up the second matter with Emperor Taichang, which was shipbuilding and trade.

During the Ming Dynasty, overseas countries had begun to amass certain wealth and engaged in trade with the Great Ming. The people of the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty often ventured out to sea for trade.

In the meantime, to combat the Japanese nuisance, the court had issued several maritime bans, but they never managed to fully enforce them. Moreover, once the enforcement relaxed, merchants, driven by profit, started venturing out again.

The court itself had also organized official fleets to venture out to sea. The most famous of these was Zheng He's seven voyages, which left footprints and cultural relics all around the world.

Zheng He's fleet was responsible for recording local customs and geography, mapping the mountains and seas, proclaiming the majesty of the Great Ming, bringing back special products and artifacts from various places, taking along the calendar and knowledge of civilization, and distributing Great Ming treasure notes...

In fact, the Ming Dynasty had a lot of interactions with foreign states. Along the east and south coasts, missionaries of the Western Sect continuously arrived, and even within the court, there were officials who were followers of the Western Sect.

Therefore, Emperor Taichang was not opposed to overseas trade, but his ministers were, especially those from the coastal southeast, who vociferously opposed it, reciting the late emperor's prohibition decree, exaggerating the exhaustion and expense imposed on the people by overseas ventures, and criticizing the Emperor for pursuing such activities for the sake of personal vanity and private gain...

After several tussles with his ministers, Emperor Taichang couldn't get the better of them and ended up as contrite as a mistreated wife, full of apologies when speaking his grievances to Shi Feiyang.

After listening to the Emperor, Shi Feiyang just chuckled, "In that case, why not continue using the previous method?"

Emperor Taichang was puzzled, "Which previous method?"

Shi Feiyang said, "If the ministers are unwilling, then let the royal family do it."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Taichang's expression turned solemn. According to ancestral instructions, the princes of the Ming Dynasty were not allowed to leave their fiefdom without an imperial decree.

In the late Ming Dynasty, during the Chong Zhen period, the Jurchens repeatedly invaded the interior. Prince Tang, Zhu Yujian, at his own expense, gathered troops and went to the capital to offer support. The outcome was that Emperor Chong Zhen issued a decree demoting him to a commoner and ordered the Jinyi Guard to escort him to confinement in Fengyang. During his confinement, when a Fengyang tomb eunuch failed to extort bribes, he was terribly abused, almost losing his life, until Chong Zhen hanged himself and the Manchus entered the capital, after which he was released.

With the precedent of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di's rebellion, subsequent emperors were extremely vigilant towards princes, with even an unauthorized departure from their fiefdom leading to severe punishment.

Shi Feiyang outlined the pros and cons to Emperor Taichang. In the imperial court, as the Emperor, his power was already severely curtailed by the ministers. The ministers formed factions to support each other, and anything the Emperor wanted to do was met with collective opposition. Even if he managed to push something through, they would use a variety of methods to thwart the efforts.

At this point, if Emperor Taichang wanted to accomplish something, it would only be possible much like Emperor Tianqi did in history, by utilizing the Eunuchs to gather those marginalized officials for a power grab, a process that would be decidedly bloody...

The hefty private treasury accumulated by Emperor Wanli had mostly been spent by Emperor Taichang over the years, and he couldn't freely use the money in the national treasury as the ministers would use various methods to prevent it.

Moreover, he had abolished the mine tax himself; without money in hand, there was nothing he could do.

Seeing that the Emperor was still worried and not delving further into the matter, Shi Feiyang didn't elaborate further. As an Immortal, he would not specifically tell Emperor Taichang what to do; he couldn't overstep his role. The Emperor had to think of his own solutions.

"If Your Majesty is indeed so unwilling, then let it be..."

No sooner had Shi Feiyang said this than Emperor Taichang's face changed, fearing that he was angry and about to leave.

Having eagerly awaited the arrival of this Immortal Master, to let him leave in anger would be a lifetime regret for Emperor Taichang, who quickly interjected, "The lifting of the ban on the royal family is a matter of great significance; it's not that it is entirely unfeasible, but it requires further careful consideration..."

Shi Feiyang smiled and gestured with his hand, "You should consider this matter yourself, since if the ministers oppose it and you are unwilling to use the royal family, then you will have to handle it on your own. How about this, you build a harbor in Tianjin, and when my fleet arrives, bypassing the southeast directly, you will dispatch the Jinyi Guard to meet us."

"Just like that?"

Shi Feiyang nodded, "People from the Immortal Country beyond the sky will bring their specialty products here to be sold in the Capital and will also buy some things from Central Earth to take back with them. You should set up a dedicated market in the Capital for this."

"That's easily done!"

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