Time flew, and another two years passed.
Sure enough, all of Jiang Ming's plans had been sound. He had been invited to serve at court several times, but he refused. In the end, they could only grant him the title of marquis.
Whatever else might be said, Jiang Ming had saved countless lives over the past three years and given the economy of the entire Great Song an enormous boost.
As for the Great Song's inability to strengthen its military, Jiang Ming had offered his suggestions. Whether they listened was up to them. He was not here to shape history.
Besides, changing certain things would only make the future even more uncertain. It might well bring about harmful karmic consequences.
By now, Jiang Ming's cultivation had reached the late Daluo Golden Immortal realm.
Still, as things stood, more than half the Karmic Tribulation had passed with the passage of time. Only eleven years remained.
Many gods and Buddhas had already died in the process.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ming's cultivation progressed with increasing ease. In other words, the mandate of heaven was on his side.
It was on this very day that Son Goku and Zhu Bajie came looking for him.
The moment Zhu Bajie saw Jiang Ming, however, he tried to kill him, only to be stopped by White Lotus Flower.
White Lotus Flower had now reached the Golden Immortal realm as well. This young woman had possessed cultivation to begin with, along with extraordinary talent and remarkable aptitude. Moreover, she had always been one of the children of fortune.
After she became bound to Jiang Ming by the red thread, a new ability of his fate pattern allowed her, as one of his beloved companions, to gain thirty percent of his own talent.
That thirty percent was nothing to scoff