Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun used a Literary Assembly to introduce taxes on luxury goods, and the Jing Kingdom’s judicial and taxation reforms continued. When the Demon Realm demanded that the human race surrender Fang Yun in exchange for a thousand years of peace, scholars first praised him as a hero, then divided after hearing claims that his foundation was ruined.

• Fang Yun left the Literary Assembly after proposing higher taxes on luxury goods, and the General Taxation Office soon drafted tax increases of ten to thirty percent.
• The Jing Kingdom’s judicial and taxation reforms advanced as the affected industries protested the new taxes.
• The Demon Realm demanded Fang Yun and the Stone Fetus Blood Egg, threatening wider war, while the Sacred Academy revealed Fang Yun’s deeds in Burial Saint Valley.
• The Demon Realm claimed Fang Yun’s foundation had been destroyed and argued that surrendering him would secure a thousand years of peace.
• Tens of thousands of scholars called for Fang Yun to give himself up, prompting furious opposition from his supporters, especially scholars of the Jing Kingdom.

As Fang Yun faced calls for his sacrifice, his allies defended him while Jing Kingdom accelerated reforms led by its halls. Once the reforms’ scale and their impact on farmers, workshops, and great clans became public, the clans organized to resist Fang Yun and the three halls, with the Ritual Hall supporting them.

• Zhang Poyue published fierce defenses of Fang Yun and threatened those who wanted him sent to the Demon Realm, drawing support from righteous people.
• Fang Yun accelerated Jing Kingdom’s reforms while officials who had opposed his proposals stayed quiet or delayed their objections.
• The Agriculture Hall put prisoners to work in paid farm labor, and the Crafts Hall established region-specific workshops, worker training, and more efficient production.
• Jing Kingdom’s workshop goods spread through the Water Race’s shipping network, prompting Craftsmen School members elsewhere to improve their technology.
• The Ritual Hall exposed the joint reforms, and rumors spread that Fang Yun and the Sacred Academy planned to strike at scholar-aristocrats and great clans.
• Fang Yun raised commercial taxes, prompting great Lineages to unite, resist taxes, recruit private forces, and lobby against him and the three halls while the Ritual Hall supported them.

Opponents of Fang Yun joined forces to obstruct his reforms, while Qing Kingdom and Gu Kingdom raised taxes on Jing Kingdom goods and threatened intervention. Fang Yun and the three halls answered with an Eastern Sea Dragon Palace water ban, but a Qing Kingdom family’s apparent suicide turned public opinion against him.

• Over a thousand clans and twelve hereditary houses petitioned Fang Yun to halt reforms, while Qing Kingdom and Gu Kingdom raised taxes on Jing Kingdom goods and threatened to help its Imperial House purge treacherous ministers.
• Wu Kingdom’s ruler threatened Qing Kingdom with war, but the Grand Secretariat refused to act during the Demon Realm invasion, and officials and clerks in Dongyun Prefecture and Yan Prefecture obstructed Fang Yun’s reforms.
• The Eastern Sea Dragon Palace imposed a water ban on Qing Kingdom and Gu Kingdom, threatening to destroy their vessels and bridges if demon spies remained.
• People on the Discourse Ranking argued over the water ban, with Qing Kingdom scholars blaming Fang Yun and others accusing Qing Kingdom and Gu Kingdom of provoking the conflict.
• A Qing Kingdom fisherman and his six family members died after eating meat and arsenic, leaving a blood-written message blaming Fang Yun, and opposition to him became the prevailing voice on the Discourse Ranking.

Fang Yun rejected calls to admit fault over the deaths of a family of seven in Qing Kingdom, insisting the incident must not stop Jing Kingdom’s reforms. He proposed emergency bureaus to prevent future disasters, and Xu Changgeng’s post helped turn public criticism toward Qing Kingdom’s response.

• Li Zhixiao and Xu Changgeng urged Fang Yun to admit fault to limit the damage from the controversy, but Dong Yueqian argued that Jing Kingdom had done nothing wrong.
• Fang Yun declared that Jing Kingdom would not accept blame or halt reforms, while expressing grief for the family and condemning Qing Kingdom’s use of their deaths as a political weapon.
• Fang Yun proposed Food Emergency, Disaster Emergency, and War Emergency bureaus, with public oversight of donations, and pledged one million taels of silver from his household.
• Xu Changgeng published an article quoting Fang Yun and criticizing Qing Kingdom for attacking Jing Kingdom instead of investigating why the family had starved.
• Scholars across nations condemned Qing Kingdom, and Zhang Poyue said its officials were busy attacking Fang Yun on the Discourse Ranking.

Qing Kingdom’s worsening conflict with Fang Yun and Jing Kingdom brought sanctions from the Crafts Hall and Agriculture Hall, while its officials insisted on waiting for a chance to conquer Jing Kingdom. The Qing Lord began to affirm their refusal to yield, but the Imperial Physician interrupted with an urgent report.

• Qing Kingdom scapegoated corrupt officials and issued a proclamation condemning the Dragon Race and Water Hall, prompting the Eastern Sage Pavilion to summon Fang Yun and the Qing Lord to discuss the conflict.
• The Crafts Hall withdrew its scholars and technological support from Qing Kingdom and raised technology fees for its imperial and government workshops fivefold.
• The Minister of Revenue informed the Qing Lord that the Agriculture Hall would charge Qing Kingdom full fees for high-yield crop seeds, threatening to leave it behind other nations.
• Qing Kingdom officials rejected negotiation and planned to wait until Jing Kingdom weakened so they could seize its territory, and the Qing Lord agreed not to yield.
• The Imperial Physician interrupted the Qing Lord to report an urgent matter.

The Qing Lord failed to begin negotiations with Fang Yun and decided to secretly undermine Jing Kingdom, while Jing Kingdom strengthened its economic ties with Wu Kingdom and other kingdoms. The chapter ended with Qing and Gu Kingdom increasingly isolated as Jing Kingdom’s cooperative workshops spread across the Ten Kingdoms.

• The Qing Lord learned that the Medical Hall had excluded Qing Kingdom and Gu Kingdom from its planned specialist academies, and blamed Fang Yun for isolating them.
• Pang Jue advised the Qing Lord to wait before acting, but Fang Yun declined to meet the Qing delegation at the Sacred Academy and asked them to negotiate in Jing Kingdom’s capital instead.
• After Qing Kingdom denounced Fang Yun, the Qing Lord resolved to secretly work with opposing great clans to disrupt Jing Kingdom’s reforms and harm Fang Yun.
• Qing Kingdom began abandoning its ships and water routes, while the loss of Qing and Gu markets hurt Jing Kingdom’s workshops.
• Jing Kingdom and Wu Kingdom formed a broad Craftsmen School partnership, and powerful groups in other kingdoms quietly sought cooperation with Fang Yun.

Fang Yun used ancient Dragon Race records to help Jing Kingdom develop goods for the Water Race, securing major orders and launching a new development zone in Jade Sea City. Rumors then fueled a mass worker protest against the workshops and Jing Kingdom officials, while coordinated posts blamed Fang Yun and the court.

• Fang Yun gave Craftsmen School scholars blueprints for ancient Water Race tools, and the Water Race placed large orders and supplied deposits and materials.
• Fang Yun approved a new city south of Jade Sea City and named it the Huating Development Zone.
• Rumors spread in Jade Sea City claiming the workshops harmed workers and that their goods carried sinister power.
• More than ten thousand people gathered outside the Jade Sea Prefecture government office to protest wages and workshop conditions.
• People posted misleading articles on the Discourse Ranking, and crowds denounced Fang Yun, the Jing Kingdom court, and workshop owners.

Ao Qingyue exposed the Qing Kingdom’s plot to incite unrest in Jade Sea City, using recorded evidence and confessions to restore order and discredit Fang Yun’s accusers. The Qing Kingdom’s agents were arrested, and Fang Yun’s careful preparations were revealed.

• A worker was killed during the unrest outside the Jade Sea Prefecture offices, and rumors blamed the officials.
• Ao Qingyue arrived with two giant whales, halted the crowd, and used an Illusory Tower Pearl to show that a hired agitator had murdered the man.
• Ao Qingyue pinned the fleeing murderer and offered leniency for confessions, prompting hundreds of troublemakers to admit they had been bribed by the Qing Kingdom.
• The prefect reassured the crowd and sent troops to arrest the plot’s masterminds, while the recording spread on the Discourse Ranking and scholars condemned the Qing Kingdom.
• The Crafts Hall denounced the scheme, and two officers revealed that Fang Yun had arranged the recording and planted them among the troublemakers to prompt confessions.

Fang Yun’s government enacted an Inheritance Law and launched a sweeping campaign against local despots and wicked gentry. After receiving a flood of pleas to spare accused clans, Fang Yun confronted his officials about the missives they had received and warned Xu Changgeng that favors came at a price.

• The Hall of Punishment promulgated an Inheritance Law that guaranteed inheritance shares to children besides the clan heir, including daughters.
• The new law sparked heated debate, with many comparing it to the Han Dynasty’s Favor-Extending Edict.
• The Anti-Thug Office began a fourth campaign phase targeting local despots and wicked gentry, offering rewards for verified reports of their crimes.
• The Hall of Punishment and Prefectural Armies mobilized across the Jing Kingdom, prompting connected clans to seek acquittals or leniency.
• Fang Yun received 143 pleas for leniency and summoned officials, learning that Dong Yueqian, Li Zhixiao, and Xu Changgeng had received similar requests.
• Fang Yun asked Xu Changgeng whether he had considered the price of handling the missives, leaving the officials wary of the consequences.

Fang Yun rejected officials’ requests to intercede for powerful lineages and defended his plan to punish them according to the severity of their crimes. After three officials resigned, a woman accused the Chen Sage Family’s fourth branch of killing her father.

• Fang Yun explained to Xu Changgeng and the other officials why passing along pleas for others betrayed their bonds with him.
• Li Zhixiao warned that punished lineages might unite against the reforms, risking mutual destruction.
• Fang Yun insisted that officials and the Hall of Punishment must enforce the law, then dismissed the Grand Secretariat officials and invited unwilling ones to resign.
• Three Grand Secretariat officials resigned and left that afternoon.
• A woman struck the Dengwen Drum and accused the eldest grandson of the Chen Sage Family’s fourth branch of taking her father’s life.

Fang Yun forced a showdown over the Chen Sage Family’s role in a man’s death, removing three capital prefects who resigned rather than handle the case. Dong Wencong took the post and investigated the case, but had not yet delivered a verdict when a purple-robed Great Scholar visited Fang Yun.

• Fang Yun ordered the capital prefect to punish the Chen Family’s steward and dismissed the prefect after he resigned, barring him from future service in Jing Kingdom.
• Two more appointed capital prefects resigned, and Fang Yun transferred officials they had promoted to important posts.
• After officials refused to recommend a new prefect, Fang Yun transferred Dong Wencong from Xiang Prefecture to the capital and appointed Feng Zimo governor of Xiang Prefecture.
• Dong Wencong chose to hear the case himself and assembled officials from several departments to investigate it.
• Three days later, Dong Wencong had a large case file but issued no verdict; on the ninth day after the woman struck the Dengwen Drum, a purple-robed Great Scholar visited Fang Yun.

Fang Yun secured the Chen Family’s cooperation in prosecuting Chen Zigan’s household and launched judicial independence, strengthening the Legalist Sacred Way. The reforms were followed by widespread unrest and coordinated protests against lineage persecution across several prefectures and the capital.

• Fang Yun pressured Chen Mingding to hand over his fourth son and daughter-in-law, and Chen Mingding resigned as head of the Chen Family.
• The court sentenced Chen Mingding’s fourth son and his wife, and Fang Yun announced a judicial system of county, prefectural, provincial, and Grand Judicial Courts.
• After the sovereign’s Imperial Jade Seal approved judicial independence, the Legalist Sacred Way grew stronger while the Miscellaneous School Sacred Way weakened.
• Every official and yamen runner in Ding Prefecture and its nine counties resigned, and masked attackers set fires, looted homes, and killed and injured residents.
• Lineage heads from Xiang Prefecture gathered outside Yueyang City with coffins to protest, while prominent families staged similar petitions in Jiangzhou, Mi Prefecture, Dongyun Prefecture, and the capital.

After lineage petitioners blockaded the imperial palace over the Anti-Thug Campaign and reforms, Fang Yun proposed a lawful response and faced officials trying to make him bear responsibility for the Ding Prefecture Rebellion. He challenged the censors who impeached him, leaving the court conflict unresolved.

• More than ten thousand people from various lineages surrounded the imperial palace and demanded an end to the Anti-Thug Campaign and reforms.
• Fang Yun proposed that a temporary bureau involving the relevant departments handle the petitioners strictly according to the law, but Sheng Boyuan challenged his plan and blamed him for the unrest.
• Fang Yun accused Sheng Boyuan and other officials of ignoring the deaths and destruction in Ding Prefecture while shifting blame.
• Wu Hanjiang and several officials impeached Fang Yun and called for his removal and trial.
• Yang Xuwen said Fang Yun should not bear sole responsibility, while Cao Dean argued that all Grand Secretariat members and possibly the monarch should share it.
• Fang Yun challenged Wu Hanjiang to explain why the Censorate had not called for the resigning Ding Prefecture officials to be tried.

At court, Fang Yun rebuked Wu Hanjiang for baselessly impeaching him and declared that Demon Realm spies had incited the Ding Prefecture Rebellion. He left Wu Hanjiang facing a manhunt backed by the War Hall and the possibility of severe consequences for the factions behind the unrest.

• Fang Yun challenged Wu Hanjiang to answer for violating the Censorate's rules and making false accusations against him.
• Fang Yun identified the Ding Prefecture Rebellion as Demon Realm subversion and said its conspirators had burned the city and slaughtered its people.
• Fang Yun cited the burning death of a Hall of Punishment investigator as evidence, and officials recognized that the claim gave the three halls leverage over the Qing Kingdom's factions.
• Fang Yun announced that the Hall of Punishment and War Hall had launched a manhunt and were arresting Ding Prefecture officials and clerks who had requested resignation.
• Wu Hanjiang turned pale as the officials realized the War Hall's involvement had taken the affair beyond their control.

Fang Yun defeated the effort to impeach him over the Ding Prefecture Rebellion, then argued against suspending reforms and proposed reopening township schools and creating a Council of Governance. The court debate ended without a decision on the proposal.

• Wu Hanjiang admitted his failure to oversee officials and resigned from the Censorate despite the empress dowager's attempt to dissuade him.
• Sheng Boyuan proposed suspending the Anti-Thug Campaign and reforms, but Fang Yun argued that officials must uphold lawful policy despite opposition.
• Fang Yun urged the empress dowager to establish township schools and a Council of Governance, with Cai He as acting head and a pilot program in the capital.
• Sheng Boyuan opposed allowing commoners and scholars to discuss government, while Fang Yun defended public discussion and distinguished law from ritual.

Fang Yun defended his proposal to establish township schools and a Council of Governance, winning support from Cao Dean and Yang Xuwen. As officials recognized the plan’s potential to reshape society and strengthen Jing, the Empress Dowager realized that the kingdom’s national fortune had already gathered around Fang Yun more than the imperial family.

• Fang Yun turned Sheng Boyuan’s objections against him by arguing that controlled township schools were preferable to people gathering outside the palace and government offices.
• Cao Dean supported Fang Yun’s proposal, saying township schools could guide scholars, reassure the people, select talent, and ease tensions.
• The officials considered how the Council of Governance could bring new social groups under the court’s administration and transform the Human Race.
• Yang Xuwen urged the Empress Dowager and the Jing Lord to approve the Council swiftly, warning that another kingdom might otherwise seize the advantage.
• The officials realized the Council could change the social order and advance Fang Yun toward Sainthood.
• The Empress Dowager concluded that national fortune had shifted so strongly toward Fang Yun that it surpassed the fortune of the imperial family.

Fang Yun explained how Township Schools and the Council of Governance would let people from different professions advise the Jing Kingdom. Sheng Boyuan questioned the plan, while Fang Yun outlined the Council Scholars’ duties, limits, and representation.

• Fang Yun asked whether any officials opposed the Council of Governance, and Sheng Boyuan questioned how the Township Schools and council would operate.
• Fang Yun said people with court-recognized occupations could visit Township Schools to discuss government and submit proposals for rewards or council positions.
• Fang Yun argued that farmers and workers had valuable expertise and that the court should listen to people across professions.
• Fang Yun explained that Council Scholars would advise the court without rank or special privileges, and that officials could hold no more than thirty percent of their positions.
• Fang Yun said the remaining Council Scholar positions would be allocated by population and occupation, including places for farmers, workers, merchants, teachers, doctors, and women.

Fang Yun defended admitting women to the Council of Governance and reshuffled senior officials as the council’s role took shape. He proposed that the council review important decrees and begin by selecting Council Scholars from the heads of the Jing Kingdom’s various Lineages.

• Sheng Boyuan opposed appointing women as Council Scholars, but Fang Yun argued that women’s work and perspectives belonged in the Council of Governance.
• After a Ministry of Rites director raised women’s literacy, Fang Yun agreed that the first female Council Scholars should be able to read and write.
• Fang Yun proposed making Cai He head of the Council of Governance, appointing Sai Zhixue minister of the Water and Land Ministry, and promoting Jiang Zhengming to vice minister of personnel.
• Cai He accepted the transfer, while Sheng Boyuan asked Fang Yun to clarify the Council of Governance’s duties.
• Fang Yun said the council would recommend revisions to important decrees before they were finalized, then proposed selecting its first scholars from the heads of the Jing Kingdom’s various Lineages.

Fang Yun secured approval for the Council of Governance, a new body that would give officials and lineage heads a role in national affairs. The council began organizing and selecting scholars as Jing Kingdom’s reforms spread to other kingdoms and the Anti-Thug Office announced new penalties for local abuses.

• Fang Yun proposed four levels of Councils of Governance and outlined how Council Scholars would be selected.
• After the Empress Dowager deliberated for an hour, she approved the proposal, and Fang Yun drafted an imperial edict that took effect with the Imperial Jade Seal.
• The Council of Governance’s creation spread across the Saint Origin Continent, and the Wu Lord announced that Wu Kingdom would establish one as well.
• Cai He announced initial regulations for the National Deliberative Council, which would select Council Scholars from officials and lineage heads and help build township schools.
• The Anti-Thug Office announced penalties for criminal lineages and local tyrants, including leniency for those who surrendered or gave up farmland for minor offenses.

Fang Yun hosted a lavish banquet for the Five Great Families and Jing Kingdom officials, using divine wine and delicacies to strengthen his guests before discussing the crisis facing his reforms. He revealed that the banquet had been planned since he became Left Prime Minister and that the Ding Prefecture Rebellion had pushed his enemies across the Human Race’s bottom line.

• Clean-record Lineages declared support for Fang Yun’s reforms and the Anti-Thug Office while opposing Lineages that surrounded the imperial palace or government offices.
• Fang Yun hosted the Five Great Families and senior officials at a family banquet in Spring Garden, serving divine wine and rare delicacies.
• Fang Yun used the Temple of Sages’ power to contain the Great Scholars’ reactions to the wine as they drank.
• The guests absorbed the divine delicacies, and seven advanced in literary rank while five advanced in literary guts.
• Fang Yun told the guests that the Jing Kingdom’s survival depended on reform and that vested interests were its greatest obstacle.
• Fang Yun said he had prepared for the banquet since becoming Left Prime Minister and cited the Ding Prefecture Rebellion as proof that his enemies had crossed the Human Race’s bottom line.