Chapter Summaries

After recovering all Nine Provinces, Lin Lin approved the enthronement ceremony and proclaimed the Great Xia dynasty with the era name Prosper the People. As the people across the realm hailed him, he began hearing their cries grow clearer.

• Cui Hao reported that Chen Province had been recovered, bringing all Nine Provinces under the Xia King's control.
• Lin Lin approved the officials' petition to worship Heaven and proclaim himself Emperor, and the Ministry of Rites finalized the ceremony plans.
• Lin Lin and Su Minghua trained for the ceremony and wore their specially designed imperial robes.
• At the Sun and Moon Altar, Lin Lin proclaimed the Great Xia dynasty and named the era Prosper the People.
• Officials, citizens, and troops across the Nine Provinces hailed Lin Lin, and he heard their cries growing clearer.

As people across the Nine Provinces prayed for the Emperor, Lin Lin sensed their hopes as People's Aspirations and endured the mental strain they caused. He gained a stronger Sword Heart, transformed Mental Strength, and telekinesis, but concluded that the small amount of usable power did not justify the ceremony’s cost.

• Lin Lin witnessed people in Mo Province and across the Nine Provinces kneeling and praying for the Emperor’s protection and blessings.
• The countless prayers overwhelmed Lin Lin with a sense of duty, but he gathered his rationality and stopped listening to them.
• Lin Lin’s Mental Strength condensed into Sword Intent, and his attributes changed as he absorbed and purified People's Aspirations.
• Lin Lin discovered that his Sword Heart had reached initial mastery and his transformed Mental Strength had granted him telekinesis.
• Lin Lin reasoned that People's Aspirations could contaminate the mind but, once purified, could replenish Mental Strength.
• Lin Lin judged that the ceremony’s enormous expense far outweighed the small amount of People's Aspirations it produced.

After becoming Emperor of the Da Xia Dynasty, Lin Lin broke through to Marrow Cleansing and discovered that People's Aspirations could help him judge his subjects' loyalty. He also learned to use believers' prayers as coordinates for brief long-range perception, though his limited People's Aspirations and Mental Strength kept its reach near Zhong Province.

• Lin Lin completed the enthronement ceremony and returned to the imperial palace as Emperor of the Da Xia Dynasty.
• Lin Lin resumed cultivating and advanced from Spirit Nourishing to Marrow Cleansing, strengthening his body and sharpening his mind.
• Lin Lin sensed that people who generated People's Aspirations sincerely acknowledged him, giving him a way to identify loyal officials.
• Lin Lin experimented with People's Aspirations and discovered he could perceive distant places by using believers' prayers as coordinates.
• Lin Lin found that his current perception reached only about a thousand li around Zhong Province and lasted briefly because it consumed substantial Mental Strength and People's Aspirations.

Lin Lin realized that People's Aspirations could guide his attacks across enormous distances, making it possible to protect Da Xia Dynasty subjects far beyond the Nine Provinces. He began considering world unification as a goal the dynasty could pursue sooner than he had thought.

• Lin Lin discovered that People's Aspirations could mark distant targets and guide his Sword Qi toward precise long-range strikes.
• Lin Lin compared the system to a missile guided by satellite eyes and considered how it gave Da Xia a capability centuries ahead of ordinary technology.
• Lin Lin recalled that past dynasties had failed to govern lands beyond the Nine Provinces, including Da Hao under Zhao Ren, because they could not maintain effective control.
• Lin Lin concluded that People's Aspirations could protect subjects expanding outward and put the unification of the world within Da Xia's reach.

Lin Lin enfeoffed his ministers with substantive titles and regional authority, then oversaw the Da Xia Dynasty’s new court and imperial household. The chapter ended with the court completing a census and land survey that recorded the dynasty’s population and agricultural holdings.

• Lin Lin granted Cui Ximing, Ji Yun, Yan Wenfang, and Mo Long hereditary dukedoms, fiefs, governorships, and permission to establish their own administrations.
• Lin Lin promoted and rewarded other civil and military officials, then hosted a grand feast for the ministers.
• Lin Lin elevated Lin Yue to Supreme Emperor and Zhang Fei to Empress Dowager, while Su Minghua managed the investiture of the imperial consorts.
• Lin Lin governed during a peaceful recovery period as the Da Xia Dynasty entered the first year of the Prosper the People reign title.
• The Da Xia court completed its population census and land survey, recording more than 103 million commoners, 4.21 million captives and others, 700 million mu of farmland, and 63.1 million mu of Medicine Fields.

Lin Lin calculated the Da Xia Dynasty’s annual revenue and expenses and worked out how much money he could personally use. He ended with roughly 150 million taels in annual disposable income and about 100 million taels in accumulated spoils, then began planning how to spend those funds.

• The chapter described the dynasty’s agricultural taxes, Medicine Fields, commercial taxes, and salt and iron monopolies as sources of revenue.
• Lin Lin calculated that the treasury received 155 million taels annually, while his personal enterprises earned 180 million taels.
• Lin Lin allocated funds for sacrifices, officials, the military, disaster relief, waterworks, and emergencies, then transferred the remaining treasury money to himself.
• Lin Lin set aside money for his parents, the Empress, cultivation resources, and personal emergencies, leaving 150 million taels for discretionary use each year.
• Lin Lin assessed his accumulated wartime spoils at roughly 100 million taels and formed a plan for using his available funds.

Lin Lin established five institutions to reduce the Da Xia Dynasty’s reliance on his personal power and protect the imperial family. The new organizations began taking shape, with the Da Xia Royal Bank starting trial operations and issuing official Silver Notes.

• Lin Lin founded the Wind and Snow Guard as his personal force to protect the imperial family and monitor officials and regions across the realm.
• Lin Lin established the Inner Guard Bureau to train loyal palace maids and the Royal Guard to protect the palace city under the emperor and Supreme Emperor.
• Lin Lin founded the Da Xia Royal Academy to educate imperial relatives, train officials, and prepare qualified graduates for government service.
• Lin Lin created the Da Xia Royal Bank with 250 million silver taels in initial capital, former Hundred Flowers Bank staff, and outside accountants overseeing its operations.
• The Da Xia Royal Bank began trial operations and issued official Silver Notes in denominations from ten to two hundred cash.

Da Xia Royal Bank’s growth funded loans, infrastructure, and rising prosperity, bringing Lin Lin more than a hundred million points of People's Aspirations. When that power condensed into a golden drop in his Sea of Consciousness, Lin Lin experienced a profound transformation and gained a higher perception of the world.

• Da Xia Royal Bank expanded its deposits and began lending to common folk, merchants, and the Great Xia court.
• Lin Lin’s court used bank loans to build roads, dredge waterways, and open up difficult regions, boosting farming, trade, and living standards across Da Xia.
• As people prospered, they spontaneously worshiped Lin Lin, and their People's Aspirations strengthened his cultivation and understanding.
• In Morning Dew Hall, Lin Lin watched his accumulated People's Aspirations surpass a hundred million and condense into a golden drop.
• When Lin Lin’s Mental Strength touched the drop, he perceived the world’s smallest components and its hidden workings before returning to normal, changed.

After awakening from a month-long trance, Lin Lin used the transformed People's Aspirations to master the Mystic Light Art and Drinking the Wind and Dew, then ventured into space. He discovered that Heaven and Earth Essence Qi was confined to Aqua Blue Star and returned to Great Xia determined to face the limits this might place on his cultivation.

• Lin Lin awoke after a month, reassured Empress Su Minghua and the others, and sent them away so he could examine his new insights.
• Lin Lin named his perfected long-range perception ability the Mystic Light Art and used it to see Great Xia Citizens fishing near Dong Province.
• Lin Lin mastered survival without food or air by sustaining himself with Inner Breath, named the secret art Drinking the Wind and Dew, and flew beyond the atmosphere.
• Lin Lin found that Heaven and Earth Essence Qi circulated on Aqua Blue Star but was held back from entering the cosmic void.
• Lin Lin decided he lacked the strength to reach the moon and return, then wondered whether the planet's limited Essence Qi would eventually cap his cultivation.
• Lin Lin regained his composure and resolved to solve the problem when his abilities were sufficient.

Lin Lin regained confidence after finding new paths toward immortality and cultivation, then turned to strengthening Da Xia through cultivation and technological development. He directed the newly established Investigation of Things Academy to focus on fertilizer and steel production.

• Lin Lin considered using People's Aspirations and Divine Power to support his cultivation, while exploring immortality through research into genes and the essence of life.
• Lin Lin decided to keep cultivating and develop Da Xia's productive capacity and technological knowledge.
• Zhang He reported that the Investigation of Things Academy had completed its preparations and recruited its first scholars and craftsmen.
• Lin Lin instructed the academy to research fertilizers to improve agricultural yields and methods to increase steel production.

Lin Lin approved funding for a nationwide literacy campaign and entrusted the Investigation of Things Academy with developing fertilizer to improve grain yields. As Cui Ximing prepared to attempt a breakthrough, Lin Yue and Mo Long questioned Lin Lin’s plan to issue three billion taels in Silver Notes, and he claimed his Medicine Fields could secure them.

• Lin Lin assigned the Investigation of Things Academy to address the lack of fertilizer and approved treasury funding for the Ministry of Rites to recruit literacy teachers.
• The Ministry of Rites trained former low-ranking martial sect disciples as instructors and sent them across the realm to teach basic reading and writing.
• Cui Ximing reported that he had organized the Royal Hidden Scripture Pavilion and was ready to attempt a breakthrough to the Heaven and Human Realm, and Lin Lin offered to guard him in the palace city.
• Lin Yue and Mo Long warned Lin Lin that issuing three billion taels in Silver Notes could destroy the Da Xia Royal Bank’s credibility.
• Lin Lin reassured them that his Medicine Fields could serve as collateral for the overissued Silver Notes.

Lin Lin explained why the Great Xia bank could safely issue two billion taels in additional Silver Notes, then observed Cui Ximing break through to the Heaven and Human Realm. Cui Ximing emerged much younger, but an unfamiliar voice corrected Lin Lin’s estimate of his increased lifespan.

• Lin Lin persuaded Lin Yue and Mo Long that issuing more Silver Notes against the Medicine Fields would help overcome deflation and support productive investment.
• Lin Lin watched Cui Ximing gather Heaven and Earth Essence Qi as he began breaking through to the Heaven and Human Realm, and gained insights into cultivation.
• After three days, Cui Ximing reached Spirit Merging with Heaven and Earth, rejuvenated, and appeared to have gained decades of life.
• Lin Lin congratulated Cui Ximing and estimated he had gained sixty years, but an unfamiliar voice said his lifespan had increased by eighty years.

Lin Lin met Dugu Zhihan, a nearly six-hundred-year-old Heavenly Being who had appeared at Hundred Flowers Valley unnoticed. Dugu Zhihan gave Lin Lin the Hunyuan Induction Chapter and said he had come to entrust him with a duty, which he had yet to explain.

• After Cui Ximing broke through to the Heaven and Human Realm, Dugu Zhihan appeared and criticized Lin Lin's spiritual attainment.
• Cui Ximing recognized Dugu Zhihan from a portrait and recalled that the long-missing expert had been born during the Great Li Dynasty.
• Lin Lin followed Dugu Zhihan into the sky to speak with him while the others remained behind.
• Dugu Zhihan told Lin Lin he was about to die and recited the Hunyuan Induction Chapter, a secret technique for cultivating spiritual attainment.
• Lin Lin asked whether Dugu Zhihan feared he would take the technique and refuse the duty, and Dugu Zhihan replied that Lin Lin would benefit from completing it.

Dugu Zhihan explained that Aqua Blue Star’s limited Heaven and Earth Essence Qi could be depleted, eventually constraining martial cultivation and causing an Era of Dharma Decline. He entrusted Lin Lin with preserving the Martial Arts System and passing its work on to future successors, leaving Lin Lin to carry the duty forward.

• Dugu Zhihan discussed the lack of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi in outer space, and Lin Lin said he had turned back from an attempted trip to the moon because he could not replenish his Inner Breath.
• Dugu Zhihan warned that martial artists could not advance beyond certain limits and that excessive consumption of Aqua Blue Star’s Heaven and Earth Essence Qi could bring an Era of Dharma Decline.
• Dugu Zhihan asked Lin Lin to preserve the environment’s Heaven and Earth Essence Qi and maintain the continued existence of the Martial Arts System.
• Lin Lin understood that the task required limiting cultivation’s spread and the number of powerful martial artists, so future gifted successors could build on their predecessors’ achievements.

Dugu Zhihan took Lin Lin to Soaring Sky City and revealed how its ancient martial arts masters had failed to find a path to longevity after running out of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. He explained the realms beyond Heaven and Human, leaving Lin Lin to learn that the later realms were largely labels for combat power rather than advances in life essence.

• Lin Lin agreed to uphold the responsibility of preserving the Martial Arts System, and Dugu Zhihan took him to Soaring Sky City at the North Pole.
• Dugu Zhihan explained that more than twenty Heaven and Human Realm experts had founded Soaring Sky City to study longevity together.
• The experts failed to create Heaven and Earth Essence Qi, and their desperation over scarce resources led to infighting and the slaughter of martial artists.
• Dugu Zhihan recounted how Zhao Jing broke through the Heaven and Human Realm and killed nearly every martial artist in the world.
• Lin Lin asked what came after Heaven and Human, and Dugu Zhihan described the Earthly Transformation and Celestial Phenomenon realms.
• Dugu Zhihan admitted that the realms beyond Heaven and Human mostly described combat power, with Lin Lin's strength placing him at the third stage of Earthly Transformation.

Dugu Zhihan explained why he had awakened to observe Lin Lin and revealed that the world had more martial artists than its environment could sustain. He passed Soaring Sky City’s legacy and Red Dust Heaven’s authority to Lin Lin, then said he had about one day left to live.

• Dugu Zhihan told Lin Lin that he had sealed his lifespan and awakened after Lin Lin crushed the Tianhe Alliance, abandoning his plan to kill the world’s martial artists himself.
• Dugu Zhihan explained that prolonged turmoil had caused the number of martial artists to exceed what the world’s declining Heaven and Earth Essence Qi could support.
• Dugu Zhihan showed Lin Lin Soaring Sky City’s Hidden Scripture Pavilion, Secret Vault, and the authority token for Red Dust Heaven.
• Dugu Zhihan explained that Soaring Sky City had created Red Dust Heaven to gather intelligence and wealth, and left Lin Lin free to decide how to use the legacy.
• Dugu Zhihan said he had roughly one day of lifespan remaining, and Lin Lin asked whether he felt calm about dying.

Lin Lin learned from Dugu Zhihan how Sword Dao artistic conceptions could multiply combat power, and saw the potential of combining them with his Mythical Martial Arts. Dugu Zhihan then prepared to enter his coffin, leaving Lin Lin with advice to cultivate and a hope that Soaring Sky City might one day achieve immortality.

• Lin Lin asked Dugu Zhihan about spiritual realms, and Dugu Zhihan explained how Sword Intent and Sword Heart developed into Sword Dao.
• Dugu Zhihan demonstrated 137 Sword Dao artistic conceptions, empowering a strand of Sword Qi to pierce a distant snowy peak.
• Lin Lin showed Dugu Zhihan his Starlight Yuan Magnetic Swordplay, and Dugu Zhihan fused it with Heaven and Earth Essence Qi to erase another snowy peak.
• Dugu Zhihan praised Lin Lin's talent, advised him to cultivate, and said he might live for more than a thousand years.
• Dugu Zhihan walked into the Tomb Chamber beneath Soaring Sky City and stopped before the coffin prepared for him.

Lin Lin watched Dugu Zhihan die and became determined to seek immortality so no one would have to sigh over his corpse. He studied Soaring Sky City’s martial arts and learned that its longevity methods relied on spiritual cultivation, especially the Hunyuan Induction Chapter.

• Dugu Zhihan described his body failing as he approached death, then died in his coffin.
• Lin Lin watched over Dugu Zhihan’s corpse for a day, bowed to him, and closed the coffin.
• Lin Lin left the tomb chamber and vowed that he never wanted anyone to sigh before his corpse.
• Lin Lin studied Soaring Sky City’s martial arts manuals and recognized the Hunyuan Induction Chapter as its foremost spiritual art.
• Lin Lin learned that Soaring Sky City’s lords pursued spiritual cultivation to extend life by drawing on the body’s latent vitality.

Lin Lin cultivated the Longevity Secret Record and raised his lifespan to 827 years, then used the Hunyuan Induction Chapter to accelerate his Mental Strength and spiritual growth. He left cultivation confident he could keep advancing toward immortality even if Heaven and Earth Essence Qi became scarce.

• Lin Lin questioned whether spirits survived death and whether his Attribute Panel had enabled his reincarnation, then set aside the speculation.
• Lin Lin cultivated the Longevity Secret Record, increasing his lifespan from 320 years to 680 years and then to 827 years.
• Lin Lin saw that his Attribute Panel now displayed his age and remaining lifespan, and he accepted that his lifespan could grow further as his cultivation advanced.
• Lin Lin cultivated the Hunyuan Induction Chapter and sensed the workings of heaven and earth, more than doubling the growth rate of his Mental Strength and spiritual state.
• Lin Lin resolved to keep advancing toward immortality, believing he could surpass the sages of old even if he had to rely on People's Aspirations.

Lin Lin returned to the imperial palace after half a year away and learned that his mother Zhang Fei was expecting a daughter, whom he planned to name heir to the throne. As his life settled back into routine, Da Xia continued to prosper through advances in finance, agriculture, manufacturing, and medicine.

• Lin Lin returned to Divine Capital City and reassured his family, friends, and ministers that he was safe.
• Lin Lin learned Zhang Fei was pregnant with a girl and proposed naming her Princess and making her heir to the throne.
• Lin Lin resumed his daily cultivation and governing after gathering with his relatives and ministers.
• Da Xia circulated Great Xia Bank's Silver Notes and made progress in fertilizer research and steel production.
• The Imperial Hospital and a medical department at Da Xia Royal Academy began training physicians and Barefoot Doctors.
• Da Xia expanded irrigation, roads, iron-tool use, land reclamation, workshops, and shops, helping the dynasty grow more prosperous.