Chapter 37: Immortal Sect under Confucianism
"Uh, please don't blame me, sir."
Noticing Jiajing's surprised look, Liu Quan realized that he had been disrespectful and immediately restrained his tone.
He was originally sitting in a very casual posture, but after he finished speaking, he sat cross-legged and straightened up.
"We're a family, you can be more casual." Jiajing smiled gently, signaling Liu Quan not to be so restrained.
"Hey!" Hearing what Jiajing said, Liu Quan immediately smiled and responded.
For some reason, he could always feel an inexplicable majesty in front of Jiajing. It was not the majesty in terms of momentum, but that unique temperament that always gave people a fatherly tolerance.
Therefore, when I am with him, I will subconsciously be reserved, pay attention to my words and actions, and be reluctant to make eye contact easily.
Well, I was mainly worried about being asked questions suddenly, or not understanding what his eyes were trying to express.
Liu Quan suppressed the thoughts in his mind, sighed again, spat out the hay in his mouth in frustration, and told the truth.
"The problem with sectarian applications."
"Sir, you may not know that to establish a sect, one must register with the academy that governs the area, and only after filling out the academy's petition can one establish a sect."
"The problem lies with the invitation letter to the academy!" As he said that, Liu Quan raised his hand and took out a palm-sized jade token.
A soft white light leaped out from the jade plate, and then hung in the air, transforming into two passages of text, one on the left and one on the right.
The one on the left reads "A Letter from the Baima Academy" in six big characters, and the one on the right reads "A Letter of Request to Establish a Sect."
"Sir, please read it yourself," Liu Quan said while sighing, "Before I went to war, I drafted the sect's name, leader, and elders, and sent them to the White Horse Academy..."
In the cultivation world of Arcturus, there is no concept of dynasty.
Powerful Confucian academies ruled over patches of territories, and beyond that were vast, undeveloped, sparsely populated wastelands ruled by various ancient beasts.
The area of Donghuang is under the jurisdiction of Baima Academy, so if you want to establish a school, you must get the approval of the academy.
Listening to Liu Quan's complaints, Jiajing looked up into the air and looked at the document on the left first.
"I originally wanted to register with the academy and officially establish my sect as soon as the war was over."
"In the end, everything else was fine, but we got stuck on the sect name," Liu Quan also looked up, grinning, "Originally, the leader wanted to call it Black Wind Village."
“It can be considered as not forgetting one’s roots!”
"I also reported the name Black Wind Village!"
Upon hearing this, Jiajing glanced at him and shook his head slightly. For an immortal sect, the name "Black Wind Village" was indeed not up to standard.
His eyes continued to look at the document above.
【White Horse Academy Letter】
[Dear Sirs and Madams, our academy adheres to the teachings of Confucianism, establishes the merit of education, manages the rules and regulations of the immortal world, and is in charge of the approval of the establishment of sects.
Now, if you, the wise men, wish to establish a new sect, you must first submit a petition to show the orthodoxy of the sect and the great purpose of cultivation. 】
[Wei, in the year of Jiazi, the first month of spring, the day of Gengwu, the White Horse Academy follows the teachings of the sages and announces to all the monks in the world:
All things come from the simplest way.
We, the monks, all want to trace back to our origins in order to return to our original simplicity and nature.
However, the great way is hidden in form but manifested in words, so the White Horse Academy specially issued a decree, ordering all sects to create their own names and choose their own lineage in order to demonstrate their virtues and spread their names.
The name is not just a collection of words, but the embodiment of the sect's spirit and the cultivator's will.
It should be decent and solemn, with profound connotations, harmonious rhymes, and sincere emotions. It should not be frivolous or vulgar, nor should it be confined to the appearance of Confucianism's benevolence, Buddhism's compassion, or Taoism's purity.
The only hope is to gain popularity among the people and boost the spirit of the sect.
You, the sects, must, in the year of Yichou, when the autumn wind begins to blow and the day of Renzi, write down the names and lineages that you have carefully conceived in a clear book and send an envoy to present it to the White Horse Academy.
After receiving the letter, our academy will select an auspicious day to gather all the scholars for public discussion and approval. Once adopted, it will be promulgated throughout the country and serve as a model for all generations.
You sects should follow this practice devoutly!
As a cultivator, you should know the importance of words, which are the essence of heaven and earth and the spiritual light of human heart. Only by being careful in words, respecting the Tao, and being sincere to others, can you gain the help of heaven, the respect of others, and peace of mind.
Therefore, we hope that your sect can build up the country with one word, benefit the people with one word, and glorify the ages with one word.
In the year of Jiazi, in the first month of spring, on the day of Gengwu.
After reading this document at a glance, it basically means one thing: some requirements for establishing a sect.
There are two key points: the naming should not be too casual, it should be solemn and appropriate, but it does not have to be overly rigid.
Well, the name Black Wind Village is obviously the name of a mountain stronghold sect, so it is naturally not accepted by the Confucians who value propriety.
Jiajing looked at the second article again.
Well, the second article is similar to an application form.
Liu Quan was still complaining incessantly.
"As a result, before the war of development was over, the application was rejected by the academy, saying that the sect name was not approved because it was immoral, insulting, and indecent..."
Liu Quan clapped his hands anxiously as he spoke, as if he wanted to seek approval from Jiajing, and said, "Sir, how can calling it Black Wind Village be considered immoral and humiliating?"
"Heh," Jiajing smiled and didn't respond. He listened to Liu Quan's complaints while looking at the content of the petition.
【Summary of Sect】
Name: Please specify.
Location: Report the place where you are.
Founder of the sect: Respectfully describe the predecessors who founded the sect.
The current head of the sect: I respectfully present the elder who currently holds the helm of the sect. [Cultivation Dharma Lineage]
Sect lineage: Detailed description of the path of practice followed by your sect, including Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, or sword practice, beast taming, elixir, weapons, talismans, formations, and other unique methods.
【Zongmen Yazhang】: Please attach.
【Men’s Status】
Disciple composition: Please state the number of disciples. Briefly describe the hierarchy, practice stage, and age distribution of your sect’s disciples.
[Sect inheritance]
Core skills: List the skills inherited by your sect.
Master-disciple inheritance: describes the master-disciple inheritance of your clan, including the entry ceremony, promotion rules, etc.
【Seal of the Sect】: Please attach.
[The date when the document is completed]: The date when it is submitted to the academy shall be used as the basis.
After reading the petition, Jiajing did not feel anything in his heart. Compared with the personnel appointments of court officials, these were much simpler.
"If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work," Liu Quan shook his head and sighed, "Then just change it, it's no big deal."
"To be on the safe side, I decided to do the same as those idiots in the Yellow Wind Valley. I could keep the word Black Wind so as not to forget my roots, and it would also fit the name of the immortal cultivation sect. I named it Black Wind Valley... Ha!"
Hearing this, Jiajing couldn't help but smile.
"Hey! I repeated it, someone else has used the name Black Wind Valley!" When he said this, Liu Quan almost laughed out of anger.
"After that, they named it 'Butian Pavilion', 'Qingyun Sect', 'Yunlan Sect', 'Heifeng Sect' one after another..." Liu Quan began to count the pain of naming Jiajing by counting on his fingers.
"Finally, Elder Liu named it Xiaoxuan Sect. Xuan means black, which is also a good match for my Black Wind Village. Eh? It's approved!"
Xiaoxuan School, this name is indeed obscure, but it also sounds nice.
"But this name is too weird. We can't just use it casually just to pass the review, right? If we tell others about it, we will be inferior to those big Xuan sects, big Xuan schools, big Xuan mountains, and big Xuan gates."
"Well, even Xiao Xuanzong and Xiao Xuanshan sound better and more interesting than ours."
"And there are new problems, such as that," Liu Quan pointed at the petition and sighed, "This sect's elegant chapter is difficult to deal with. To put it bluntly, this thing is the ritual and music memorial followed by Confucianism."
"Under normal circumstances, it is only needed when a sect is established. It is not needed at all for large, medium or small sects."
"Only those super-large companies that have existed for tens of thousands of years have these daily tedious things."
"To put it bluntly, this thing is just a ritual, but it is a must for newly established sects. It is said to be related to the sect's legal lineage."
"For example, if our sect is destroyed after three generations, and our descendants are left wandering outside, if they want to establish a sect in the future, they can go to the academy to take out these things and pass on the incense..."
"But I have never heard of any sect being destroyed, and the descendants who were living outside would seek the academy to claim the legal lineage."
"Which one is not to re-establish a sect and restore the legal system?" Liu Quan shook his head and said:
"But all of this is still far from enough. I asked you to go over there to see if you can compose a set of music based on the Xiaoxuan School. Of course, if you can come up with a better name, that would be even better."
"There's really no other way. I can only ask the people in the academy for help." As Liu Quan said this, his face was full of resistance.
"Sir, you should know that the new sect spent 10,000 taels of spiritual energy to apply for the academy, and the site selection was the biggest expense. It cost a full 180,000 taels to buy a mountain gate with low-level spiritual veins."
"Miscellaneous things. We also need to reward the brothers who started the war and purchase some necessities..."
"In just half a month, we have already spent nearly 500,000 taels of spiritual energy. All the savings accumulated over the years have gone into it!"
"A set of sect names drafted by the academy and matching low-grade sect chapters. Pay attention, it is a low-grade chapter. Just one chapter. Do you know how many it costs?" Liu Quan raised his hands and said in a hoarse voice:
"One hundred thousand taels!"
"If we spend these 100,000 taels on this, it would be a waste of money. Therefore, most new sects will come up with their own sect names and music if possible."
"If it really doesn't work, then we can only pay the academy to do it."
A sect name, plus a matching low-grade music piece, is worth 100,000 taels of spiritual energy! ?
Even Jiajing couldn't help but stare at it. Having used the spiritual source to practice, he knew how precious it was.
A sect name and a set of music cost one hundred thousand taels of spiritual energy, which was indeed too expensive to be acceptable.
Moreover, this is a set of low-quality music with only one piece. How many pieces of medium or high-quality music would it cost?
How much profit can there be here? It's so lucrative!
"Can't we find someone else besides the academy? Can anyone else do this business besides the academy?" Jiajing asked.
"Yes," Liu Quan shook his head and said, "but I can't guarantee that it will pass the review, and the price is not much cheaper than the academy. Sixty thousand taels of spiritual energy for one name, plus a matching low-grade music piece."
"Once sold, no returns or exchanges!"
Jiajing understood. This was true. Since 60,000 taels of silver was not enough to guarantee passing, it would be better to spend more money and find a college to help him. He would definitely pass.
For a while, Jiajing gave up the idea of doing this business.
Otherwise, when it comes to composing music, or the Confucian way, all the elders in my cabinet must be experts in this.
"I asked you to come here to see if you can come up with a new name for the sect and compose a set of matching music.
If that doesn’t work, then we can only pay the academy to do it.”
"Sir, the next ones will be the sect's higher-ups, so naturally they will have to discuss these matters together... We're here!" Liu Quan said as the flying carpet shook, and the main mountain they had been to before was already in sight.
"The sect's name, the music..."
Looking at the mountain houses in the distance, Jiajing had some ideas in his mind.
"..."
(End of this chapter)
