"I beg the Celestial Venerable’s forgiveness for our rudeness."

The two Celestial Venerables hurriedly walked forward to apologize.

Although it was Lv Bai who had not issued the decree in advance, causing them to be unprepared for the reception.

However, in front of Lv Bai, these two loose cultivators had absolutely no courage to blame him, and didn’t even dare to think ill of him in their hearts.

Instead, the people around the store, after confirming Lv Bai’s identity, fell into a state of extreme fanaticism.

No one needed to lead, as they shouted "Loyalty" while uniformly kneeling down toward Lv Bai.

Just like in feudal times, no matter how tough life was, common people would never think the emperor was bad, at most they would blame the lower officials for causing trouble.

From a human nature perspective, such illusions towards the upper echelon, to some extent, are within the realm of faith.

It is only by believing in this that one can hold on to hope and find the courage to go on living.

And now, Lv Bai’s image in the minds of these mortals has surpassed this kind of faith in imperial power.

In the true sense, a once-in-a-lifetime Saint, eternally illuminant.

Lv Bai raised his hand to calm everyone down, signaling them to quiet down first.

Once the scene had slightly calmed, he released his mana, gently yet irresistibly, supporting both the mortals and cultivators present who had knelt on the ground.

"If you’ve wicked intentions, no amount of incense will help you. Conduct yourself righteously, and it’s no offense even if you don’t bow to me."

Lv Bai wore a gentle smile, exuding full amiability: "Seeing that everyone is doing well, I am at ease."

After saying this, a beam of mana formed beneath his feet, and he walked upon the light, covering distances in strides, disappearing into the clouds within a few steps.

"Respectfully sending off the Celestial Venerable!"

"Respectfully sending off the Celestial Venerable!"

"Loyalty! Loyalty!!"

The cries of the people and cultivators below mingled together, creating a rather noisy fervor. Due to Lv Bai’s reminder, no one knelt again.

...

The wind blew through the streets, mingling with the pungent scent of coal ash.

To avoid being choked by the smell, many passersby instinctively covered their mouths and noses.

With the relentless wave of industrialization, many cities faced varying degrees of pollution.

In severely polluted places, after just a walk outside, wiping one’s face with a tissue could reveal black smudges.

"Cough, cough!"

The owner of a general store coughed for a bit with a covered mouth, hunched his shoulders, and pulled up the collar of his new-shirt to roughly cover his mouth and nose.

He staggered out of the shop, posting a newly written recruitment notice on one side of the door.

A familiar from the neighboring store teased upon seeing this: "Boss Zhou, with such great benefits, you’re still not able to hire anyone?"

Hearing this, Boss Zhou sighed helplessly: "Alas, there’s nothing to be done. The Celestial Venerable treats those peasants so well. In the past, having something to eat was already lucky; offering meals, lodging, and wages would’ve seen them scrambling. Now, nobody even bothers to look."

"Isn’t it just that, I advise you to stop hiring for now, or you might find your earnings not enough to pay your staff’s wages."

"This labor law, tsk tsk," Boss Zhou clicked his tongue twice, a hint of self-mockery in his tone: "Claiming to have an open shop front, but when calculated, earning less than working in a factory."

"As the saying goes, if you don’t open a shop, others will."

"If only the Celestial Venerable could pity us bosses and reform the labor law, but—huh? Daoist, please come in, what would you like to buy?"

Boss Zhou, speaking halfway, noticed Lv Bai standing motionless, hurriedly and warmly invited him in, despite his idle chatter with an acquaintance.

Lv Bai chuckled and waved his hand: "I’m not buying, carry on chatting."

Before Boss Zhou could respond, Lv Bai turned and left.

At the moment of turning, a portion of the smile on his face inexplicably faded.

With the deepening of reforms, the drawbacks of the laws began to manifest, which is unavoidable.

In fact, under the spontaneous adjustment mechanism of the market economy, the Pareto principle, or the 80/20 rule, naturally occurs.

And truly speaking, the concept of everyone being equal is also anti-human nature.

The more you suppress, the greater the rebound once Lv Bai leaves.

Even foreseeing it, experiencing it first-hand still instills a profound sense of frustration, leading one to doubt the meaning of change.

Especially in this world where great power belongs to oneself, even with enlightenment and awakening of the public, it matters little.

After all, the weapon of criticism can never replace the criticism of weapons; cultivators may not refute the thoughts of mortals, but they can physically eliminate opposing opinions.

Eradicate thoughts, enslave the body.

It wouldn’t take long; after a few generations of common folk, people would return to a state worse than livestock, possibly even more miserable than before.

One must know, a few generations of the common folks hardly span one or two hundred years, not longer than the lifespan of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.

Lv Bai sighed lightly, there are no eternal strongmen, nor immortal ideologies.

Even if willing, staying forever in this world, he couldn’t guarantee his mindset would never change.

...

Back to the Cyan Hope Sect.

Sitting cross-legged on the Inquiry Stone in the palace square.

Lv Bai took out a jade scroll, immersing his Divine Sense into it.

This jade scroll recorded a divine technique known as the Great Derivation Immortal Technique.

As the pavilion guardian divine technique of the Celestial Secret Pavilion, normally, only true disciples of the pavilion have the right to learn it.

However, for Lv Bai to obtain it was not that troublesome.

Ultimately, the largest fist wins; compared to severing a legacy—letting others have a look at the pavilion guardian divine technique matters little.

After all, cultivating such divine techniques requires extremely high aptitude, and nine out of ten cultivators find it challenging to even begin.

Of course, for Lv Bai, this was no issue.

"The Great Tao is fifty, the Celestial Derivation is forty-nine, with one escaping the human grasp..." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The complete text of this divine technique spanned thousands of characters, but Lv Bai quickly finished reading, succinctly experimenting as recorded and was largely able to perform it.

From the name, one can somewhat infer, this Great Derivation Immortal Technique wasn’t for attack and slaughter, but was a divine technique for deducing the future, to seek fortune and avoid evil.

The reason he cultivated this divine technique was he didn’t intend to remain long in this Death Arena.

The outcome of this large-scale social experiment, confirming through deduction was the most time-saving method.

"Let’s give it a try first."

Lv Bai formed hand seals, calming his mind, and slowly closed his eyes.

In an instant, his mana surged, with immortal aura vaporizing externally, flowing with a mysterious radiance.

Being his first deduction, Lv Bai was unsure of the intensity required, so to avoid failure, he readily invested over half of his mana.

In a trance, time seemed to accelerate, millennia passing in a moment.

In a state between dream and wakefulness, a scene of desolation appeared in Lv Bai’s mind.

Barren, broken, and sparsely populated, he vaguely sensed a rotting smell from this image.