Journey to the West: I have Nine Golden Crows Inside Me-Chapter 1597: One thousand and forty-eight, Time Flies in a Century

Chapter 1597: One thousand and forty-eight, Time Flies in a Century

Of course, while it is necessary to provide for the commoners, to prevent them from becoming indolent and dependent, what Jiang Chen provides can only satisfy their basic living needs. If they want more, they will have to rely on their own efforts.

In simple terms, even if you do nothing but rely on the subsidy Jiang Chen provides, you can ensure that you won’t starve to death. But if you want a better life, the subsidy alone is not enough, you need to struggle and strive on your own.

Jiang Chen does not give out meat; if one wishes to eat meat, they must leave the city and hunt for themselves. There are so many fierce and demonic beasts outside, and their flesh is far more precious than spiritual rice.

After all, Jiang Chen does not wish to support a bunch of idlers. He wants everyone to work hard and struggle, to thereby improve themselves and change their destiny.

Heaven favors the vigorous; a gentleman ought to strengthen himself unceasingly. If one wants everyone to be like dragons, aside from environmental factors, personal effort is also of great importance. Without effort, no matter how favorable the conditions, how can one speak of becoming a dragon?

"An unprecedented era has come upon you, and all that should be given has been. Whether you can seize the opportunity to rise will depend on yourselves."

Jiang Chen believes that he has done his utmost in benevolence and righteousness, providing his people with the best treatment possible.

Not to mention anything else, just the Creation Pills, which ordinary cultivators might not have even seen, are distributed by Jiang Chen without hesitation, given to everyone with great generosity. Who else in the Prehistoric World could match such a grand gesture?

Having done all this, what reason do the clansmen have not to make effort?

"You might have had the excuse of having no opportunity before, so slacking off might have been acceptable. But now, the opportunity to rise is right before your eyes and it’s everywhere; if you’re still slacking off, then you are truly beyond help."

Jiang Chen doesn’t care about others’ opinions; as long as he is true to his conscience, that’s enough. Whatever preparation is needed, he has already made, and it’s the best possible.

In this way, if the people still do not make an effort, then it has nothing to do with him, and they cannot even blame him.

While he does intend to encourage the commoners to leave the city, Jiang Chen does not force them. Each person has their own choice, and as long as they have no regrets, that will suffice.

Moreover, this trial by the Heavenly Dao is, in itself, a selection process. Hiding in the city indeed drastically increases their chances of surviving.

But at the same time, by not leaving the city, they also give up any hope of rising up.

It might not be obvious now, but a hundred years later, as their lives gradually come to an end, the difference will become apparent.

The ones who stayed in the city are about to die of old age, while those who left to face the trials are still in their prime, at the very peak of their lives.

I wonder if they will regret their choices then?

Of course, whether they regret it or not is no longer important. Their death signifies their elimination by Heaven and Earth, and those who remain are the elite of the Human Race.

Through their struggle, the Human Race is bound to grow stronger. And the grand aspiration of each generation of the Human Race’s sages, for everyone to be like dragons, will be realized through them.

The people who stay in the city, by giving up the hope of rising, have essentially eliminated themselves; thus, they are fated not to attain immortality. Allowing them to live life free from diseases and calamities is the final gift the Human Race can give them.

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"Issue the order, effective today, prohibit any force from selling grain to mortals. The mortals’ only channel to purchase grain shall be the Divine Court."

"Moreover, any power that is found to engage in such behavior shall be severely punished without leniency."

Jiang Chen withdrew his attention from the Nine States and coldly issued this command. It has only been a little over a month since the celestial phenomena changed, and yet there are already people boosting grain prices.

As food is paramount to the people, currently, with the commoners deprived of their land, they are incredibly anxious. To manage the coming catastrophe, they will surely try everything to store grain.

As the saying goes, having grain in the heart dispels the anxiety; even if Jiang Chen distributes food every day, it will not eliminate the commoners’ desire to hoard grain.

After all, Jiang Chen could guarantee that even if he were to distribute grain for a hundred years, his reserves would still not run out. But he could say this much, and the commoners might still not believe it. freewebnøvel.com

The greater truth of the world is not as reassuring as the grain in one’s own home.

Such matters cannot be controlled; one can only prove it with facts. After distributing grain for a few months, when the commoners have confidence and their fear subsides, the trend of hoarding grain will naturally disappear.

At the beginning, Jiang Chen did not take this matter to heart, but upon reviewing it today, he discovered that some people are taking advantage of the situation to drastically raise the price of grain and profit immensely from it.

During the catastrophe, grain merchants inflated prices and profited immensely from human lives, an occurrence not foreign to any dynasty. Yet, Jiang Chen had not expected such a thing to happen right before his eyes.

Others might confront the situation by assaulting the market with official grain to break the grain merchants’ price gouging, thus destitution would be their only return.

But Jiang Chen would not; he was a tyrant, who would simply kill these merchants outright. He would kill one upon encountering one, and after many were slain, naturally, no one else would dare to do the same.

"Nowadays, frequent disasters coincide with restless hearts. It’s exactly at such times that conspirators can most easily stir public sentiment. Any trivial matter might ignite a fire leading to catastrophic upheaval."

"Price gouging by unscrupulous merchants is just one of the many forms of chaos; beyond that, there are the deceits of Yellow Heaven Dao misleading the masses, wilderness spirits and monsters committing murder, and Demonic Way deities luring hearts astray."

"All of these are the negative consequences of celestial changes, and at the same time, can be seen as part of the trials."

"Only by passing through such tribulations can the Human Race transform and become the true protagonists of Heaven and Earth."

Jiang Chen was acutely aware of the myriad disorders of the Human Race, but he mostly did not interfere. It was not for him to manage; the affairs of the mortal world were overseen by local officials, and the matters of the cultivation world by the local Divine Courts.

If everything required Jiang Chen’s attention, then what use would his subordinates be? Jiang Chen is a ruler; his role is to steer the grand direction and guide the Human Race onto the right path.

Such minor matters, mere details, should be managed by those beneath him. Only when they are incapable of managing would it be his turn to intervene.

Just like that Yellow Heaven Dao, resembling rats in the sewers, completely unworthy of attention; local Divine Courts could handle them.

If even such matters required Jiang Chen’s intervention, wouldn’t that suggest his subordinates were incompetent?

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Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, a hundred years have passed.

In these hundred years, Jiang Chen and King Wu have not clashed, both sides seeming to ignore the existence of the other, each peacefully developing their respective forces.

And as the two most unstable elements of the Prehistoric World have remained still, naturally the Prehistoric World has seen no major events.

One could say that over these hundred years, the Prehistoric World had entered a strangely calm period, with all powers accumulating strength, bracing for the coming war.

A century had passed, and although nothing major occurred in the Prehistoric World, the Human Race had undergone significant changes.

Firstly, the Nanbuzhan Continent had expanded, or rather, the true Nanbuzhan Continent had once again manifested before the eyes of the world.

With the continuous revival of spiritual energy, the once-concealed parts of the Nanbuzhan Continent have emerged, its area expanding a thousandfold, still smaller than the Dongsheng Divine Continent but far surpassing the Xiniuhe Continent and Beijulu Continent.

The reappearance of the complete Nanbuzhan Continent undoubtedly strengthened the foundation of the Human Race; more and more ancient clans integrated into the Divine Court, deepening the foundation of Jiang Chen’s domain.

Besides, the greatest change for the Human Race was that the external celestial punishments had intensified, with the extreme weather patterns escalating from the mortal stage to the transcendent stage.

The thunder in the sky was no longer ordinary thunder but innate thunder, each bolt capable of shattering mountains on the land.

The torrential rains and heavy snowfall had similarly transformed, with each variety of rain being a manifestation of Spiritual Water; some could dissolve flesh and blood, others targeted the soul specifically, with even more severe cases contaminating Spiritual Veins.

The snowfall was particularly dreadful; a single snowflake contained intense cold force, capable of instantly freezing a thousand meters around it.

The strong winds turned into gales, as sharp as blades, able to slice off layers of mountains.

In short, the celestial conditions had deteriorated to the point where they were utterly unsuitable for mortal life, and even cultivators were struggling, wary of venturing outside during such weather.

But it’s undeniable that harsh environments are the best for tempering willpower. Through a century of such tribulations, the Human Race indeed birthed many experts.

What can be achieved in a hundred years? It’s enough for the Human Race to produce a great number of immortals. Achieving immortality in a century was a pipe dream in the past, but in this era, it has become commonplace.

If a cultivator cannot achieve immortality in a hundred years, it only indicates one thing: you are nothing but a failure.

Why is this so? Because the innate talent of the Human Race as a whole has increased by leaps and bounds, becoming stronger.