The Rise of an Empire

Inside the study of Lishan Martial Arts School.

Lin Tuo stood quietly beside the sandbox. With a wave of his hand, he dispersed the mist he had forcibly swept over from Taihe Mountain, then withdrew his Avatar back into his body.

Only after finishing all this, gazing down at the crowd in Yangcheng Central Business District Square that had yet to fully calm, did he softly let out a breath.

"Everything went smoothly."

Taking the time to enter the Taihe Mountain Range through his Avatar and carve the cultivation method onto the face of that enormous boulder had truly cost him considerable effort. For caution's sake, he had even deliberately carved with his left hand and carefully wiped away fingerprints and other traces.

Making sure no clues were left behind.

"Yangcheng is neither too small nor too large. Quite a few people in the square witnessed that scene, and plenty recorded it. Before long, the specific contents of this cultivation method will surely spread online.

"Especially within Yangcheng itself, it will inevitably stir up even more heated discussion...

"As for the entire country, it may also draw some attention, though perhaps not too much.

"At the end of the day, the attention a Mysterious Warrior can attract is still limited... at least, until this cultivation method is proven truly effective..."

"Next, as long as Yangcheng Municipal Government isn't too slow-witted, they'll definitely investigate and report it to their superiors. Perhaps the Provincial Investigation Team will arrive soon."

Yet Lin Tuo was not worried about being traced. With the abilities of the Evolution Sandbox, he could appear from nowhere and vanish into thin air. He had also concealed the details of his body, making his movements entirely impossible to trace.

Seeing the crowd in the square gradually settle down.

Lin Tuo stopped dwelling on it, rose, and went to the Training Ground for his Daily Life cultivation.

Noon.

By the time Lin Tuo came down the mountain and arrived in town for lunch, he had already heard diners discussing the morning's incident.

Related videos, as well as photos of the "Azure Spirit Breath Technique," were spreading through group chats and Moments.

Many were skeptical. Some firmly insisted it was a scam, while others voiced their support:

"It's real! I can testify! I happened to be downtown this morning and saw it with my own eyes. That person threw such a huge Stone Tablet from the building into the flower bed. It smashed a huge crater right into the ground!

"I even went over and touched it. It was real stone, not a prop! It was so heavy, yet he could throw it that accurately. That's simply not something a normal person could do!"

An old colleague said this in the company group chat with great seriousness.

A young copywriter who had only recently come in as an intern asked curiously:

"Right downtown? I'll go take a look after work, then."

"Don't bother. It's already been sealed off. The relevant city departments took over, and I heard they even moved the stone away. Who knows whether it's real.

"What a pity... though you know, that Stone Tablet actually looked pretty good sitting there..."

"Ah, I see."

Lin Tuo silently lurked in the chat, watching everyone's discussion without much surprise.

Suddenly, a colleague said:

"Do you think that Azure Spirit Breath Technique... is it real or fake? I mean, it looks like some kind of internal cultivation manual, doesn't it?"

Another person joked, "I think it looks more like a cultivation formula, the kind from novels."

After a pause, he added, "Why don't we try it too? I looked over it carefully. This formula doesn't seem difficult—just adjusting your breathing. There's no harm in trying."

"Wouldn't that be a bad idea... Should we wait for an official announcement?"

"To hell with that. After work, I'm trying it first."

"Count me in."

The group was mostly young people, their curiosity running high. Several immediately began discussing cultivation, while the rest said nothing. Still, Lin Tuo reckoned that quite a few of them were tempted as well.

His heart finally at ease, Lin Tuo finished lunch and returned to Li Mountain. Entering the study, he immediately summoned the "Virtual Panel" and switched the Evolution Sandbox to "Creation Mode."

The light and shadows in the room abruptly shattered, then reassembled, forming a continent in an instant.

After more than thirty hours of acceleration, changes had indeed appeared on the sandbox continent.

Looking down, the Chi Kingdom's formerly chaotic farmland had become far more orderly, its ridges and furrows distinct. Some lands that had once been barren and unsuitable for cultivation had also been reclaimed as farmland.

Looking carefully, he could vaguely see humans bustling through the fields, pushing new agricultural machinery.

This was clearly the result of "agricultural reform."

The land was cultivated collectively by "large landowners" or local state authorities. With new agricultural tools, new fertilizers, and more scientific planting methods, grain output rose accordingly.

As for the labor force that had originally worked the fields, they were recruited into State-Owned Factories, trained for their positions, and used new technology to produce fertilizers, pesticides, new agricultural machinery, and more.

After work, under local arrangements, they attended night school for basic education, creating a positive cycle.

When Lin Tuo shifted his gaze toward those factories that had begun to take shape, his mood improved even further.

The feeling of personally watching a nation develop at breakneck speed... was wondrous.

"Open the Operation Log."

Lin Tuo spoke softly, and the interface automatically unfolded.

Year 700,040,823 of world evolution. The Chi Kingdom carried out agricultural reform and implemented a series of new decrees. That same year, the first State-Owned Factory was established within Tao County to produce agricultural necessities, while related laboratories were founded as pilot programs.

...One year later, the scope of the pilot programs gradually expanded. The reigning monarch proposed the first Five-Year Plan...

...In year 829, the first large-scale textile factory was established on the banks of the Taohua River in the outskirts of the Capital. New textile machines impacted the existing textile industry.

That same year, the Chi Kingdom invested ten thousand taels of silver to develop the Steam Engine, putting it into use first at Xishan Mining. It also planned to issue trust currency... further loosening restrictions on private commercial activity...

...In year 838, the Chi Kingdom's first Stock Exchange was listed and established in the Capital, raising private capital in excess of...

...Year 41...

...Year 53...

Lin Tuo browsed through the Operation Log with great interest.

Through his exploration over this period, he had also come to understand the Rules of the log better. It leaned more toward recording landmark events in social development.

Simply put, events worthy of being written into History Textbooks and appearing on exams.

Thus, during periods of rapid social development, records became especially frequent. By browsing them, Lin Tuo could roughly grasp the thread of development.

Further on, if things of the same kind underwent no major changes, they would no longer be recorded.

Folding it away, Lin Tuo turned his gaze expectantly toward "Current Environmental Aether Concentration."

It still read "Low," which came as no surprise.

Further down was a green upward arrow, signifying that the Aether within the sandbox was rising.

"This time, it can't still be so little, right?"

Lin Tuo muttered inwardly. Looking down at the sandbox, he lowered his body slightly, then once again circulated the Qi-Eating Method.

Then, above the rapidly changing sandbox continent, wisps of Cyan-White Qi were drawn over and swallowed into his abdomen.

This time, as Aether entered him, Lin Tuo's skin suddenly flushed and heated up as though he had a fever, while fine beads of sweat seeped out.

Only after dozens of seconds did Lin Tuo open his eyes and ask again:

"How much Aether do I have now?"

Information surfaced in his mind:

Host's current Aether Value: 536 points

536!

Seeing that number, Lin Tuo was instantly invigorated.

After purchasing the Tongyu Technique, he had only had 24 points of Aether left. He had absorbed a few more points and used them to temper his body, and setting all that aside—

With that single breath, he had absorbed more than five hundred points!

Compared to last time, it was a leap forward.

One had to know that even Yangcheng City had only provided him with around a hundred points of Aether.

That one breath was equivalent to five Yangcheng Cities!

Of course, it could not be calculated so simply and crudely.

For one thing, after all these years of development, the Chi Kingdom's total population had risen again. For another, Lin Tuo had not absorbed Aether from a single point in time. Under the effect of Time Acceleration, he had drawn in Aether from an entire span of time.

That was why it was five times greater than Yangcheng City's.

Moreover, because the consumption of switching between the two modes differed, Lin Tuo suspected that the actual Aether drawn in had greatly exceeded that number. It was just that part of it had been consumed by the sandbox.

"This is the proper path. If I stubbornly clung to Observation Mode, how long would it take to save up five hundred points?"

Sighing inwardly, Lin Tuo felt himself swell with a little pride.

Once one had money, naturally one thought of spending it.

With a thought, he opened the "Store" button. Only one item remained inside:

Observation Range: 1000 points / 10,000 square kilometers

Seeing the number one thousand, Lin Tuo fell silent for two seconds, and that bit of "swollen pride" in his heart vanished like smoke in thin air.

He had thought he had struck it rich, only to find he could not even afford half an item.

Lin Tuo let out a deep sigh, his smile bitter.

"I'm so poor."

Thanks to readers: Little Cold Highness o Meow, founder of the OAA Allied Forces, ら Bones, Water Demon Ice Blue, CLAY, Clown, Reader 2019...0746, for their support and rewards.