Enlightenment: Attaining the Dao at Age 8

Chapter 99: Chapter 85: Don’t Ascend? Must Ascend

Initially, the Jianghu Martial Artists were still somewhat wary and doubtful about the opening of White Jade City.

After all, as far as the Jianghu Martial Artists were concerned, the Imperial Court had always pursued order and stability.

From this perspective, this group of Jianghu Martial Artists, who were prone to breaking the law with their martial prowess, were undoubtedly the greatest destabilizing factor in the world.

Therefore, in their view, it would have been more than enough if Li Chang’an, the world’s greatest expert, had simply not suppressed the world’s Martial Artists after coming to power.

How could he possibly open the gates of the Martial Dao and allow a bunch of low-level grunts from the Jianghu like them to learn even more powerful Cultivation Techniques?

But what they never expected was…

White Jade City was the real deal—it wasn’t a joke at all!

As long as one could provide something of value, White Jade City accepted almost anyone, and sometimes the rewards were so generous they left the Jianghu Martial Artists utterly dumbfounded!

White Jade City’s collection included the Cultivation Techniques Li Chang’an had gathered from the Major Sects over the years, various Secret Manuals from the Dayan Imperial Family’s own Library Pavilion, and even many versions personally adapted by Li Chang’an himself…

The sheer number was dazzling and overwhelming.

Among these countless Cultivation Techniques, the conditions for exchanging Grandmaster Techniques were, naturally, the strictest.

One had to either provide a technique of the same Level or offer information of equivalent value to White Jade City to even have a chance of receiving a Grandmaster Technique as a reward.

This so-called “value of information” was quite abstract.

Some people brought Cultivation Techniques they had treasured for a lifetime, hoping to make an exchange with White Jade City.

But White Jade City scornfully rejected them.

Others brought nothing at all, simply went inside to describe their visions for the future of the Martial Dao, and were immediately rewarded with a Grandmaster Technique.

It was truly a fine line between Heaven and Hell.

As for First-class and Second-class techniques below the Grandmaster Realm, in addition to providing information, they could also be exchanged for merit points earned by completing missions issued by the Imperial Court, or traded for techniques of the same Level!

As for the Third-class and Non-stream techniques below Second-class…

White Jade City was far more generous in its handling of these.

—As long as a Martial Artist hadn’t committed murder and had a clean record, they could purchase these techniques directly with silver taels. If they were short on cash and couldn’t afford the full price at once, Li Chang’an even allowed them to rent the techniques for less than a tenth of the cost!

Of course, those who rented or purchased the techniques were forbidden from passing them on. Any Jianghu Martial Artist discovered doing so would be blacklisted by White Jade City and permanently banned.

Furthermore, White Jade City encouraged innovation. Any Martial Artist who created their own Cultivation Technique could trade it for an even higher-Level technique!

…

After confirming that the news about White Jade City was true, countless Martial Artists who had longed to advance to a higher Realm but were held back by their low-Level techniques were ecstatic.

It wasn’t necessarily that their talent was poor!

Their lack of progress on the Martial Dao over the years was mostly just because they had no path to follow.

The Major Sects held a near-monopoly on all channels for accessing high-level Cultivation Techniques. For an ordinary Jianghu Martial Artist who wished to advance, there were typically only two paths:

One was to join a Sect, become a disciple, and make sufficient contributions.

But there were millions of Martial Artists in the world, and the number of low-level ones was frighteningly large. How could the Sects possibly accept so many disciples?

They would inevitably reject the majority, selectively admitting only a small fraction of the best.

As for the other path, it was to serve the Major Sects as a Guest.

Of course, this so-called “Guest” position only sounded pleasant. In reality, it meant being a dog for the Major Sects, risking life and limb for them just to gain a sliver of hope for advancement.

Without a doubt, both paths were incredibly arduous. For many Jianghu Martial Artists, the difficulty of pursuing them even surpassed that of cultivation itself.

This was the fundamental method the various Sects used to control the Jianghu Martial Artists and emphasize their own transcendent status.

For so many years, the Sects’ monopoly on resources and paths to advancement had been unshakable.

But now, the appearance of White Jade City had shown all the Martial Artists in the world a brand new hope!!!

After all, unlike the other Sects, Li Chang’an didn’t impose all sorts of restrictions on them. He only required that they had not committed any crimes or broken the Law.

Beyond that, any Martial Artist—as long as they had money, earned enough merit points, or provided something of sufficient value—could go to White Jade City to rent or purchase all kinds of Cultivation Techniques!

Any one of those techniques was a high-quality treasure that, in the past, many low-level practitioners could not have hoped to obtain even if they’d slaved away for a Sect their entire lives!

In contrast, the missions issued by the Dayan Imperial Court mostly involved hunting down wanted criminals and various Jianghu Martial Artists who had broken the law.

This was unlike the Major Sects, which required them to serve as lackeys and risk their lives.

After observing for a while, the bolder Jianghu Martial Artists from all over the world finally cast aside their doubts and swarmed into White Jade City, cheering with joy.

Most of them couldn’t afford to buy the Cultivation Techniques, so they could only rent them.

But White Jade City didn’t make things difficult for them. After collecting a certain amount of silver, they were allowed to enter the pavilion to study the techniques. They were even provided with food and lodging for up to ten days, and the dining hall had its own dedicated cook…

Such treatment made countless Jianghu Martial Artists weep with gratitude, shouting “Long live Li Chang’an!”

Of course, it wasn’t as if no one came to cause trouble.

Putting aside others with malicious intentions, how could the Major Sects possibly sit back and do nothing?