Chapter Summaries

Zhang Ming revealed himself as the New Dynasty’s emperor and recruited Feng Weiqi, ordering him to summon a Confucian representative to negotiate for the lives of fifteen disciples. Two Great Confucian Scholars arrived in Gao Yuan, where they confronted Xiang Zhengqi as he celebrated a scheme against the New Dynasty.

• Zhang Ming revealed to Feng Weiqi that he was Temujin Zhang Ming and offered him an official position in the New Dynasty.
• Zhang Ming ordered Feng Weiqi to tell his teacher to send someone to negotiate if he wanted the remaining fifteen Confucian cultivators spared.
• Feng Weiqi secretly contacted his teacher, and two Great Confucian Scholars arrived in Gao Yuan a few days later.
• Xiang Zhengqi celebrated with fellow Confucian cultivators after plotting to stir public opinion and pressure the New Dynasty.
• Master Kong and Master Li burst into Xiang Zhengqi’s private room and demanded to know whether he remembered their instructions.

Master Kong and Master Li confronted Xiang Zhengqi and the other Confucianism cultivators over their reckless actions, then brought them before Zhang Ming. Kong offered Confucianism’s inheritance in exchange for demands and warned Zhang Ming of the sect’s power.

• Master Kong bound Xiang Zhengqi and rebuked the Confucianism cultivators for their failed assessment and secret schemes.
• Xiang Zhengqi tried to recruit Master Kong and Master Li into his plan, but Master Kong slapped him and revealed that Temujin had alerted them to the danger.
• Zhang Ming welcomed Kong, Li, and fifteen Confucianism cultivators to the palace, then bound and threw the fifteen out of the grand hall.
• Kong guessed that Zhang Ming wanted Confucianism’s inheritance and said they would give it in return for meeting the sect’s demands.
• Kong warned Zhang Ming that Confucianism had six fourth-realm sages and thirteen Confucian Sage artifacts that could unleash power more than ten times that of the fourth realm.

Zhang Ming negotiated a deal with Confucianism, securing cultivation methods, classics, Supernatural Abilities, and temporary custody of a Confucian Saint artifact. Great Confucian Scholar Kong stayed in Gao Yuan for three years to establish an academy, while Great Confucian Scholar Li departed with the fifteen Confucian disciples, troubled by Confucianism’s future.

• Zhang Ming persuaded Great Confucian Scholar Kong that Confucianism would not risk a deadly conflict with the New Dynasty and negotiated a mutually acceptable deal.
• Zhang Ming asked why Confucianism had sent people to Gao Yuan, but Kong admitted he did not know the reasons behind the decision.
• Zhang Ming inspected a secret factory testing materials for the [Talisman Engraving Technique] and told the manager to continue experimenting.
• Several days later, Great Confucian Scholar Kong and Li delivered six Confucian cultivation methods, eight classics, twelve Supernatural Abilities, and a Confucian Saint artifact to Zhang Ming.
• Great Confucian Scholar Kong stayed in Gao Yuan for three years to hold the artifact and establish an academy, while Great Confucian Scholar Li left with the fifteen disciples.
• Great Confucian Scholar Li questioned whether Confucianism’s path was right, and Xiang Zhengqi looked back at Gao Yuan as the group departed.

Zhang Ming studied Confucian teachings with Great Confucian Scholar Kong and decided to attempt Confucian cultivation despite bearing Great Fortune. Kong began the enlightenment ritual with the Wenyuan Brush, leaving Zhang Ming at the start of the process.

• Zhang Ming rapidly memorized Confucian classics, cultivation methods, and supernatural abilities, then questioned Great Confucian Scholar Kong about their meaning.
• Great Confucian Scholar Kong struggled to answer Zhang Ming's increasingly difficult questions, while Zhang Ming thanked him for his guidance.
• Zhang Ming asked to try Confucian cultivation, and Great Confucian Scholar Kong warned that failure could damage his spirit.
• Great Confucian Scholar Kong used the Wenyuan Brush to invoke the Confucian Sage and began enlightening Zhang Ming.

After entering Confucian cultivation, Zhang Ming studied Righteous Qi and adapted its traits into his newly created Primordial Chaos Art. He believed the improved method could soon help him break through to the Fourth Realm on his own.

• Zhang Ming experienced Righteous Qi and realized it enhanced intelligence, mental clarity, and the use of fortune-powered abilities.
• Zhang Ming envisioned Confucian cultivators becoming scientists and researchers in the New Dynasty.
• Great Confucian Scholar Kong congratulated Zhang Ming on entering the Confucian path and agreed to teach him its principles.
• Zhang Ming used his knowledge and national fortune to transform the Gathering Evil Art into the versatile Primordial Chaos Art, which he considered a Fifth Realm method for the Talisman Cultivator Lineage.
• Zhang Ming integrated Confucian cultivation traits into the Primordial Chaos Art, improving its effects and cultivation speed.
• Zhang Ming sensed that he could reach the Fourth Realm without the Attribute Panel and wondered what his power would become afterward.

After the realm’s major powers founded states and the chaos subsided, the Heavenly Mystery Lineage investigated the deaths of its elite force and traced the culprit’s trail to the New Dynasty. Its Lineage Master activated the Myriad Heavenly Mystery Mirror to examine the dynasty’s history and its unusual national fortune.

• The major powers consolidated their territory, leaving Great Yu divided into several vast blocs as the threat of a larger war loomed.
• The Heavenly Mystery Lineage resumed its investigation into the squad that had vanished while targeting the Talisman Cultivator Lineage.
• The Lineage’s divination revealed a hundred-meter giant and identified the New Dynasty as a key lead.
• The higher-ups reviewed the New Dynasty’s rapid rise under Temujin Zhang Ming and questioned why its national fortune was rated weak despite its remarkable expansion.
• A higher-up requested permission to use the Myriad Heavenly Mystery Mirror, and the Lineage Master approved.
• The Lineage Master used the mirror to reveal the New Dynasty’s National Fortune Dragon and its past increases and expenditures of national fortune.

The Heavenly Mystery Lineage manipulated the Six Nations into forming an army against the Northern Six States to weaken the New Dynasty's national fortune. After learning of the threat, Zhang Ming decided to end the pretense and unite all six states under the New Dynasty.

• The Heavenly Mystery Lineage concluded that the New Dynasty was spending its national fortune on a secret undertaking and approved an attack to weaken it.
• The Heavenly Mystery Lineage failed to find an ally inside the New Dynasty and decided to use the Six Nations to attack the Northern Six States.
• The Six Nations agreed to form an allied army and declared that they would destroy the Northern Six States as rebellious ministers.
• The leaders of the Northern Six States turned to the New Dynasty after hearing that the allied army was assembling.
• Zhang Ming, newly advanced to the fourth realm, used the National Fortune Dragon to order the Northern Six States to merge into the New Dynasty and commanded their governors to pacify their territories.

After the Northern Six States joined the New Dynasty, the Heavenly Mystery Lineage plotted a coordinated assault with the Six Nations, Eastern Rong, Western Di, and Daoist Sect. Zhang Ming prepared to counter the invasions by spending national fortune to deduce two techniques.

• The New Dynasty’s unification of the Northern Six States caused unrest that Zhang Ming’s controlled officials swiftly suppressed.
• The Heavenly Mystery Lineage elders resolved to urge the Six Nations to attack, enlist Eastern Rong and Western Di, and send Daoist Sect cultivators accompanied by their own elites.
• The New Dynasty’s national fortune rose to 301 as Zhang Ming’s daily Luck and strength continued to grow.
• After reviewing reports of the approaching armies and Daoist Sect cultivators, Zhang Ming judged that his defensive position gave him an advantage.
• Zhang Ming spent fifty-one points of national fortune to deduce the Military Formation Technique and the Individual Luck Breaking Technique.

As the Six Nations, Western Rong, and Eastern Di formed a three-sided assault on the New Dynasty, Zhang Ming prepared to use the approaching battle to gather intelligence on the Heavenly Mystery Lineage. At Yan Yun, Barut led the defenders out of the city to challenge the besieging army, whose cautious commander halted his advance and waited for them.

• The Six Nations assembled a two-million-strong allied army while the Western Rong and Eastern Di moved to attack the New Dynasty from its rear and flank.
• Zhang Ming surveyed the allied army outside Yan Yun and resolved to find Heavenly Mystery Lineage cultivators and obtain more complete intelligence about them.
• Zhang Ming decided that defeating the invading armies would not be enough; he intended to destroy the Heavenly Mystery Lineage before unleashing his full strength.
• Barut led the defenders out through the city gates to begin a field battle against the besieging army.
• The Six Nations' commander-in-chief halted his troops and ordered them to hold formation while he waited for Barut's army to approach.

Barut led the New Dynasty’s one hundred thousand troops against the Six Nations allied army, using four powerful Military Formation Techniques to withstand the opening attacks and enter a brutal battle. As the New Dynasty gained the advantage, the allied commander reassured his worried officers while privately fearing their enemy still had trump cards.

• The New Dynasty and Six Nations allied armies faced off, and the allied commander enhanced his million-strong force with golden radiance.
• Barut invoked Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain, giving the New Dynasty army thirtyfold enhancements in speed, coordination, attack, and defense.
• The New Dynasty soldiers weathered the allied army’s first arrow volley with few casualties, and Barut ordered them to attack.
• Both armies exchanged volleys before their troops collided in fierce close-quarters combat.
• The allied officers grew alarmed as their army fell behind, and the old commander urged them not to panic while doubting their chances of victory.

Zhang Ming used the perfected Military Formation Technique to coordinate the New Dynasty’s hundred thousand soldiers, reversing the Six Nations allied army’s brief advantage and inflicting heavy casualties. The allied commander-in-chief remained composed and turned to the Daoist Sect cultivators as the battle’s next hope.

• The Six Nations allied army strengthened its own troops and weakened the New Dynasty soldiers, reducing their Wind Forest Mountain Fire enhancement to about twenty-fivefold.
• Zhang Ming took command from Barut and used the Military Formation Technique to direct the New Dynasty’s hundred thousand soldiers through coordinated shifting formations.
• The New Dynasty soldiers encircled and overwhelmed groups of allied troops, while rotating frontline soldiers with reserves to sustain their attacks.
• Tens of thousands of allied soldiers fell within the first several dozen minutes, and the allied commander-in-chief praised the New Dynasty’s military formation.
• The allied officers asked their commander-in-chief what to do, and he urged them not to panic because the Daoist Sect cultivators had not yet acted.

Zhang Ming used the County Town's Azure Qi to suppress the Daoist Sect cultivators and lure them into a military encirclement, where the Giant War Cavalry slaughtered them. He secretly captured several Heavenly Mystery Lineage cultivators and watched the first battle end, waiting to see whether another force would deliver.

• Zhang Ming imposed prohibitions across the battlefield that grounded Daoist Sect cultivators and weakened their powerful spells.
• Zhang Ming shifted the New Dynasty army's formation to draw the Daoist Sect cultivators into an encirclement, despite the Six-Nation Allied Army's leaders recognizing the danger.
• Zhang Ming sent the Giant War Cavalry against the trapped cultivators, and the cavalry slaughtered them.
• Zhang Ming's Mana avatars knocked out and captured several specially marked cultivators of the Heavenly Mystery Lineage, taking them to a secret Dungeon in the city.
• Zhang Ming declared the first battle over and turned his attention to whether another force would deliver.

After the first day of battle ended with the allied army retreating, Zhang Ming enslaved five Heavenly Mystery Lineage cultivators and learned the lineage’s secrets. He discovered their Ancestral Land and cultivation system, and resolved to destroy the lineage and control its methods himself.

• Zhang Ming ended the day’s fighting without pursuing the retreating allied army, then organized battlefield cleanup and care for the wounded.
• Zhang Ming used Soul Control and Fate Severing Curses to enslave five captured Heavenly Mystery Lineage cultivators and interrogated them about their lineage and abilities.
• Zhang Ming combined their answers with other intelligence and learned that the Heavenly Mystery Lineage had twenty-eight Fourth Realm cultivators and an Ancestral Land hidden in an alternate space.
• Zhang Ming learned that the lineage cultivated by absorbing many kinds of qi, including the qi of dynastic prosperity and decline.
• Zhang Ming decided the Heavenly Mystery Lineage had to be destroyed and its cultivation path controlled, and obtained its cultivation methods, spells, and Supernatural Abilities from the captives.

Zhang Ming integrated the Heavenly Mystery Lineage’s Qi Absorption Art into his Primordial Chaos Art while the New Dynasty prepared to fight the allied army. The new cultivation method greatly increased his Mana and let him absorb the qi surging across the battlefield, where he planned to cultivate before confronting the Heavenly Mystery Lineage.

• Zhang Ming studied the Qi Absorption Art and used the Attribute Panel and national destiny to begin merging it with his Primordial Chaos Art.
• At dawn, Zhang Ming asked Barut to command ten thousand soldiers and offered him guidance during the battle against the allied army.
• Zhang Ming’s true body completed the fusion of the Qi Absorption Art and Primordial Chaos Art, creating the New Primordial Chaos Art.
• The New Primordial Chaos Art made Zhang Ming’s Mana purer, increased its volume to nine times that of an ordinary Fourth Realm cultivator, and let him absorb unseen forms of qi.
• Zhang Ming recognized the battlefield as a place to fill his Mana and intended to reach peak condition before wiping out the Heavenly Mystery Lineage.

After the New Dynasty and its coalition enemies paused their exhausting battle, Zhang Ming replenished his Mana on several battlefields and infiltrated the Heavenly Mystery Lineage’s Ancestral Land. He began hunting its cultivators, while a fabricated report lured elder Kong Haodang toward a transportation hall near Kyoto.

• Zhang Ming surveyed battlefields across the New Dynasty and absorbed energy until his Mana reached its current limit.
• Zhang Ming used a Jade Talisman to enter the Heavenly Mystery Lineage’s otherworldly Ancestral Land.
• Zhang Ming sensed and marked 145 cultivators outside the central region, then vanished to begin his hunt.
• Sun Haiming told Kong Haodang that the twelfth transportation passageway had malfunctioned, and Kong Haodang hurried to inspect it.

Disguised as Sun Haiming, Zhang Ming killed Kong Haodang and searched his soul, learning that the Heavenly Mystery Lineage had twenty Fourth Realm Cultivators remaining and a formidable Lineage Master. He chose to press on, assessed his enhanced strength, and prepared to face the central mountain.

• Zhang Ming ambushed Kong Haodang in the Twelfth Palace, pierced his chest, and killed him by making his body explode into blood mist.
• Zhang Ming searched Kong Haodang's soul and learned that twenty Fourth Realm Cultivators remained in the Ancestral Land and that the Lineage Master had easily suppressed several Fourth Realm Cultivators.
• Zhang Ming considered retreating but decided to continue, fearing the Heavenly Mystery Lineage would seal the pocket space or use its spatial passages against him.
• Zhang Ming calculated that National Fortune could let him unleash a thousand times his strength for three breaths and headed toward the central mountain.
• Zhang Ming tested the pocket space's upper boundary, then shouted, "Heaven and Earth Manifestation!"

Zhang Ming destroyed the Heavenly Mystery Lineage’s central mountain and confronted its Lineage Master, who revealed that he could wield the fortune accumulated by his lineage over thousands of years. The two prepared to continue their exchange, with Zhang Ming facing an opponent confident that no one could defeat him.

• Zhang Ming’s giant form smashed the central mountain, broke its Mana barrier, and killed nineteen of the twenty powerful life signatures he detected.
• The Heavenly Mystery Lineage’s Lineage Master emerged from the ruins, furious at the destruction and the deaths of his cultivators.
• The Lineage Master attacked with a colossal hand, but Zhang Ming rushed him and struck; the Lineage Master blocked the blow with one raised hand.
• The Lineage Master recognized Zhang Ming as the attacker who had previously wiped out an elite squad outside the Talisman Cultivator Ancestral Land and questioned how he had gained such strength.
• Zhang Ming asked why the Lineage Master was so confident, and the Lineage Master explained that he could command the fortune the Heavenly Mystery Lineage had accumulated and sealed away over thousands of years.

Zhang Ming fought the Lineage Master, whose hidden strength came from the Heavenly Mystery Lineage’s vast reserve of fortune. After Zhang Ming stripped away that fortune, he used the nation’s destiny to amplify his own power and killed the Lineage Master, destroying the Heavenly Mystery Lineage.

• Zhang Ming explained that his immense physical strength came from his Attribute Panel and that his giant form was Heaven and Earth Manifestation, then attacked the Lineage Master with Eight Extremes Collapse.
• The Lineage Master released the Heavenly Mystery Lineage’s stored fortune, multiplying his strength more than a thousandfold.
• Zhang Ming used Dust Washing Luck Breaking Method to erase the Lineage Master’s fortune empowerment and reduce him to his original strength.
• The enraged Lineage Master unleashed several Heavenly Mystery Lineage arts at Zhang Ming.
• Zhang Ming invoked the nation’s destiny and Thousandfold Empowerment for one breath, then struck with Transcendent Limit Eight Extremes Collapse.
• Zhang Ming’s attack killed the Lineage Master and destroyed the Heavenly Mystery Lineage.

Zhang Ming led the New Dynasty to crush the Six-Nation Allied Army, Western Rong, and Eastern Di, unifying the former territories of Great Yu. He chose Kyoto as the capital and founded the New Dynasty in an enthronement ceremony, where officials and commoners hailed him as emperor.

• Zhang Ming used military formations, County Town Azure Qi, and his own abilities to amplify the New Dynasty's forces and defeat the Six-Nation Allied Army, Western Rong, and Eastern Di.
• Zhang Ming convened a high-level meeting and declared that the New Dynasty's campaign to unify the realm would begin.
• Zhang Ming's armies conquered Shi State, Yuan State, Zhu State, Qi State, Wu State, and Ke State, bringing all the former territories of Great Yu under the New Dynasty.
• Zhang Ming selected Kyoto as the New Dynasty's capital and held the imperial founding and enthronement ceremonies there.
• Zhang Ming swore to put the people first and govern diligently, and the gathered officials and commoners acclaimed him and the New Dynasty.

After establishing the New Dynasty, Zhang Ming used the surge in national fortune to learn that reaching one million zhang would allow him to fully comprehend the Human Dao Law. He left the chapter focused on rapidly reforming and developing the Empire, determined to reach that goal.

• A celestial phenomenon appeared during the founding ceremony, and Zhang Ming sensed the benefits of surging national fortune.
• Zhang Ming prayed to Heaven and learned that the New Dynasty needed one hundred thousand zhang of national fortune to comprehend 10% of the Human Dao Law and one million zhang to comprehend it fully.
• Zhang Ming resolved to reach one million zhang and began reshaping the New Dynasty with new government departments and sweeping reforms.
• Zhang Ming used Mana to build an extensive network of roads across the Empire's twenty-eight provinces and then planned and excavated canals connecting its rivers and cities.
• As transportation improved, commerce, agriculture, industry, military strength, and scientific research advanced rapidly during the New Dynasty's first year.